Ryan Blaney Advances To NASCAR Championship 4, Field Set For Phoenix

Ryan Blaney punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 when he took the checkered flag at the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.

The No.12 Penske driver is making his first appearance in the Championship 4 race after making it to the Round of 8 five times.

"It's been a lot of heartbreak in this round," Blaney told Fox Sports after his trip to victory lane. "Especially last year, I felt we had a good shot to make it to Phoenix and I made some mistakes to take us out."

Blaney added: "So, to come back this year, learn from those as a group and come back ever stronger that's all you can ask for. ... Nice to finally get to Phoenix to finally have a shot. That's all you can really ask for is to have a shot. You just want a chance to compete for a championship and we definitely have that chance."

With the final Round of 8 race in the rearview mirror, the field is set heading to the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. on Nov. 5.

Joining Blaney are Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson who won at Homestead-Miami and Las Vegas respectively and the final spot belongs to William Byron who claimed his right to battle for the NASCAR Cup Series title with a 13th-place finish pushing the remaining four drivers, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick to elimination from contention.

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Byron's No. 24 car was not as good as it was all season and the Hendrick Motorsports driver struggled with uncharacteristic heat in Martinsville this time of year.

"I've never been that hot," Byron told FrontStretch after the race. "The helmet fan ... it really wasn't pushing enough clean air to me. I would have to shut it off, turn it back on and it would recycle.

"I've never been so mad at a racecar. I've never wanted to get out so much. I've never been so frustrated at the car, how loose I was, how tight I was in spots. I just had no grip."

Despite his struggles, Byron made it to the final NASCAR race with the opportunity to win his first title. Byron won the Phoenix race in March and has five Top-10s to go with the win. While Blaney has never won at Phoenix, he does have six Top-5s and four Top-10s.

Larson has one win at the Arizona raceway back in 2021 to go along with six Top-5s and four Top-10s. Like Blaney, Bell has never won at Phoenix either and hasn't secured a single Top-5 finish. His best finish was earlier this year when he placed sixth in the field of 36.

Of the four remaining drivers, Larson is the only one to clinch the NASCAR Cup Series championship, winning in 2021.