2023 NASCAR Cup Series Race Thirty-Five Martinsville

Cars in field: 36
Pole: Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr. (19)
Outside pole: Ty Gibbs (54)
Stages: 130-130-240
Caution on lap 104 of 500 for a crash involving Corey LaJoie, Alex Bowman, and Harrison Burton (21). Austin Dillon (3) turned Harrison Burton (21) into Alex Bowman (48) who was sent up the track in front of Corey LaJoie (7).

‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) wins stage one.

Some stay out, some pit.

Caution on lap 215 of 500 for a spin by Ryan Newman (51) with help from Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20).

Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19) busted for speeding leaving pit road. He will start at the back of the field.

Ryan Blaney (12) wins stage two.

Caution on lap 272 of 500 for a multi-car crash. Logano gets into the back of Ty Gibbs who went around and collected Todd Gilliland (38) Ty ‘MyGrandDaddyIsTeamOwnerJoeGibbs’ Gibbs (54), Daniel Suarez (99), Michael McDowell (34), Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (6), JJ Yeley (15), Austin ‘MyDaddyIsPenskeExec’ Cindric (2) and Ross Chastain (1). Daniel Suarez is driving his car which is badly skewed and has a flat left rear. The car appears to be turning left as he’s driving it forward. He hopped a curb in the incident.

Congrats to the president of Martinsville Speedway who is celebrating his 45th anniversary with NASCAR. He was mowing the grass at his family’s track when he was eight years old.

Caution on lap 302 of 500 for Ty Gibbs (54) going around with help from someone – maybe Ryan Preece (41). As usual the camera shots of the cars don’t really allow the viewer to clearly see the number on the car. It was a white car.

MRN reports Brad ‘It’ Keselowski (6) has gone behind the wall trailing fluid and a bellow of flame came out of the pipes as he approached his pit stall.

Caution on lap 322 of 500 for a spin by Michael McDowell (34).

The pace car is stopped at 1637 eastern and will be towed off track. A safety truck is pacing the field on lap 331 of 500. The pace car driver switches to the backup pace car as the field heads to the green flag.

Restarting with Corey LaJoie (7) and Chase Elliott (9) on the front row.

MRN reports at 1655 eastern that NASCAR says some rubber build-up on the track came up into the engine and knocked some wiring loose causing the pace car to stall on the track.

MRN reports that Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) announced he is leaving Stewart-Haas Racing to find a ‘better work-life balance’. He did not say he was retiring.

Chase Elliott (9) loses the lead on lap 411 of 500 in fuel conservation mode. Elliott is reportedly 10 laps short of fuel.

MRN has resorted, on lap 452 of 500, to calling the points battle amongst William ‘WilliB’ Byron (23), Martin Truex Jr (19) and ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11). Basically there seems to be little happening on the track other than those guys trying to gain spots. Lots of cars are in fuel-saving mode and some are trying to pass cars to sneak into the final four. Hamlin’s team told him he had to go now. The television broadcast seems to be showing random cars interspersed with tires and track surface.

Crew chief Rudy Fugel told ‘WilliB’ (24) ‘you cannot lose any more spots. The difference is three points and Hamlin can pick up more spots”. MRN reports ‘WilliB’ has picked up the pace.

Aric ‘Afterburner’ Almirola (10) is 2.372 seconds ahead of second place Ryan Blaney (12).

On lap 477 of 500 Ryan Blaney (12) takes the lead from Afterburner (10).

Corey LaJoie (7) is out of fuel on lap 485 of 500.

On lap 489 of 500 Chase Elliott (9) is out of fuel and heads to pit road.

Tyler Reddick (45) pits for fuel on lap 497 of 500.

Ryan Blaney takes the white flag.

Ryan Blaney wins.

William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) points his way in, eight points, over ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11).

Cup Championship Four

- - Kyle Larson (5)
  - Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20)
  - Ryan Blaney (12)
  - William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24)

Martin ‘MTJ’ Truex Jr (19), ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11), Tyler ‘TyRed’ Reddick (45) and Chris Buescher (17) eliminated from the championship battle.

Ryan Blaney said, on his radio interview, he grew up coming to Martinsville with his dad Dave. He said Dave is there today. He said he grew up closer to Martinsville than Charlotte and that he’s wanted a clock since he was a kid.

That was a boring race. The only drama was the points race between William ‘WilliB’ Byron (24) and ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (11) at the end with a little bit of fuel mileage drama as to whether Chase Elliott (9) could actually make it to the end on fuel. The last laps were 170 green flag laps; only seven cautions in the event. BORING.

MTJ (19) said it was a completely different situation once he got the speeding penalty and that he feels like he did good to get back to where they did. He finished 12th. He said he thought he was well under speed leaving the box and obviously he was speeding so that’s something they’re going to have to look at again. He said he’s very disappointed. He said he felt like they couldn’t do anything right and if there was ever a 50-50 call it would always go against them. He said “goes on to show you that .02 seconds can ruin your life”. The 2024 regular season champion will not compete for the championship.

WilliB (24) said his team was giving him times throughout because, he needed some kind of carrot to keep motivated. He said he’s gotta get better at that. MRN says WilliB will get some fluids. He got out of the car and sat down beside the car and people started pouring water on his head and wet towels.

Desperate (11) said he’s “trying to get to 60 wins; that’s what [I] care about”.

The crowd is booing – not sure if its for WilliB who’s interview we’re listening to on television or if its for ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin.

WilliB said his helmet fan wouldn’t work and that’s why his face is really red. He said they train for that and he was going to faint before he didn’t pull in with seven or eight points between them.

MRN reports the 9 car of Chase Elliott was eliminated for the owner’s championship.

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2023 NASCAR Cup Series Race Thirty-Five Martinsville

Next Race: Phoenix

GO 48 & 9!!!!