William Byron went to Martinsville Speedway on Sunday as a favorite to make the NASCAR Cup Series’ championship race. Instead, he barely scraped his way in. “It was definitely not pretty, but we got it done,” Byron told Road Track. “I felt a lot of joy and excitement right after the race, but I was just trying to recover. I was pretty beat. Honestly, it hit me Sunday night, and going into Monday, just how much it means.
Going into Martinsville, Byron had three things working against him: Two of the four championship spots were already taken, since drivers Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell won earlier in the round and automatically qualified for the title race; any playoff driver could win Martinsville and take a third spot; and drivers get bonus points for finishing well in “stages,” which are predetermined race breaks. That gave Byron’s competitors room to catch up.