RIDGEWAY, Va. – William Byron dominated Martinsville Speedway on Sunday as he nearly lapped the field in the Xfinity 500 for his first win of the season.

Byron has earned at least one win over the past six consecutive years, but heading into Martinsville on Sunday, he was still winless in 2026. By the end of the race, he had swept all stages, led a whopping 362 laps and lapped everyone except for the top-seven.

“We’re always pretty good here,” Byron said. “Man, it’s been a fricking long road this year. This team’s worked really hard. Yeah, just appreciate them. We had our struggles.”

What really helped Byron was that surprisingly, the race went 230 laps green to the end, so teams were stuck with the strategy that they had implemented after the conclusion of Stage 2. With the victory, Byron now becomes a four-time winner at racetrack that holds a special place in the hearts of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports.

“I think this place is special for me personally, special for my mom,” Byron said. “Special for my mom and dad for what my mom went through here. Special for Mr. Hendrick.

“It’s always a really unique and important opportunity when you drive for Hendrick Motorsports to come here and try to do well.”

Byron’s teammate, Chase Elliott tried to chase him down, but he had to settle for a runner-up finish. Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top-five.

As for The Chase, Kyle Larson didn’t have the best of days but neither did the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who are chasing him. Larson went a lap down early due to pit strategy and then had to battle back through the field. He finished ninth, and now he heads into the Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a 67-point lead in The Chase.

“Yeah, just struggling for grip there for about the last 50 laps,” Larson said. “Yeah, unfortunately went down a lap there right at the end. That hurt the second stage. Thankfully we were able to get back to the lead lap. Other guys spent longer a lap down.

“Yeah, I mean, it all could have been a lot worse tonight. Look at the positives from that, go to Homestead next week with a comfortable gap, but still not locked up.”

Christopher Bell is the closest driver to Larson as he sits second in the standings. Bell was in great position early in the race, as he was the only driver within reach of Larson to earn points in Stage 1, but he later got caught speeding entering pit road and was turned by Joey Logano, so he never fully recovered. Bell finished 10^th on Sunday.

“I don’t know,” Bell said. “I mean, I think at least myself, I got tricked into thinking I was better than I was. My team, Adam, did a great strategy call there in stage one to pit and got us a bunch of track position. On the stage two start, I felt like I was pretty good. Adam came on the radio and said that William was running part throttle. I’m at 100%, he’s at 80%. I don’t know, just I was pretty close on the short run, then the long run I fell off.”

Denny Hamlin is the only other driver who technical has an opportunity to win the Championship as he now sits 70 points back. After starting on the pole, he also faced adversity and was caught up in the accident when Bell spun. At the end of the day, a sixth-place finish wasn’t enough to make significant ground on Larson.

“Yeah, I mean, I feel confident that I’ll be able to go there and contend,” Hamlin said. “I’d love to get another win before the end of the year. I thought it was going to come today.

“We’ll have to get one more shot at it next week and see if we can’t get one more win.”

Sunday’s race at Martinsville saw 11 lead changes among six drivers.

The caution came out on six occasions for 47 laps.

The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway will broadcast live on NBC at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 8.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com