NASCAR at Martinsville: William Byron holds off Joey Logano in overtime finish

In a second consecutive wild finish at Martinsville in as many days, William Byron earned the fourth Cup win of his career and his second of the season at the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 on Saturday night. He became the first Cup driver this year to win a second race, a holding off Joey Logano on an overtime restart.

Logano caught up to Byron’s bumper once in the two-lap, green-white-checker finish and gave him a shove, but Byron drove away, and Logano never got close enough to try again.

“I thought everyone behind us would pit, and luckily we stayed out,” Byron said. “We were aggressive. We felt like we could re-fire on the tires and be okay, and you’ve got one of the most aggressive guys behind you in Logano.”

Logano said that he should’ve been more aggressive in the final laps.

“Tried to root him up a little bit and I did, but not quite enough and then he was able to turn back down and he just stopped me … just checked me up big, which was the right move and he should have. It worked for him.”

He said that he wished he hit Byron a little harder.

“You gotta punt him a little bit harder with this car,” Logano said. “It was all I could do to get to him. His car was superior than mine getting to the corner for sure. That’s where the Hendrick cars have been strong all year. They get in the corner harder than anybody.”

Byron scores ‘special’ win

The 24-year-old Charlotte native won his second race of the season, and scored the fourth Hendrick Motorsports victory in the first eight races of the year, snapping a streak of different drivers winning races before it reached eight for the third time ever. He led a race-high 212 laps, most of which came after taking the lead from teammate Chase Elliott after the second stage.

Elliott dominated the early laps, leading the first 186. Byron chased Elliott down for around 140 laps from second place and was only able to pass him with a faster pitstop. Once Byron was out front, he held the lead for most of the final stage.

The Penske Fords of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney rode close together in the top five, and with around 115 laps to go, Logano moved by Elliott with Blaney in tow. They finished third and fifth, respectively, with Chevrolet driver Austin Dillon wheeling it from 23rd at the start to a second-place finish.

The win was especially meaningful for Byron since it was a year after his mother, Dana Byron, suffered a stroke-like event at the same track and was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor. After being treated in Charlotte, Byron said in July that the tumor responded positively to radiation and that she’d have regular MRIs, but that it was “the best possible outcome.” Both of Byron’s parents were present at the track to watch his win.

“Great to have her here, have them here and just see how things have progressed through the year,” he said. “It’s been amazing. Definitely makes you count your blessings and be thankful for everything. Nothing more special than tonight to kind of cap it all off a year later on the same weekend.”

Lack of lead changes, Martinsville wrecks

For a race that’s typically caution-heavy for contact, it was a mild event. There were only six lead changes and four cautions.

“I was surprised,” Hendrick Motorsports executive and nine-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon said. “I’ll be honest, we were trying to speculate what was going to happen ... I don’t think anybody would have guessed that it would have gone (that way), especially because it’s a new car and they’re shifting every lap and it’s easy to lock the left front tire up.”

Gordon said that he was surprised that there weren’t more desperate moves, but he offered a common explanation for why the racing was so mild: The temperatures that hovered in the low 40s. The start was delayed roughly an hour for rain and even light snow that touched down at the track, which made a difference in how the race played out.

“When the track is this cold and it doesn’t lay rubber, the tires just don’t give up,” Gordon said. “I’d almost say Goodyear has too good of a tire here right now because I think the racers want to see the falloff and be able to see line changes, setup, matter over a long run. They’re running qualifying laps almost every lap. It just did not fall off nearly as much as anybody thought it would. That’s night racing, and especially a cold night race.”

No. 24 crew chief Rudy Fugle agreed that temperature made a difference.

“Even during practice (it was) just a little bit warmer, we saw way more falloff and the tires were gummier. You were going to see a different kind of race. So I think we just got bit by the cold weather.”

While some noted that there was less passing during the race, Dillon said he didn’t get that impression based on how he was able to carve through the field. He also noted the heavy shifting drivers are doing in the Next Gen car at a short track like Martinsville, and its durability.

“Gotta give it to the car, (it’s) pretty indestructible,” Dillon said. “We shifted however many laps, I shifted every lap, every corner. That’s pretty physical, so I mean drivers did a good job. You had to minimize mistakes throughout the night ... Track grip’s super high. You come back when it’s hot and slick, it’ll be a totally different race.”

NASCAR at Martinsville race results

This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 6:30 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription