By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo: AP Foto/Chuck Burton
The defending series champion Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4.
Blaney will defend his title at Phoenix. Blaney won his third of the season. Blaney joins Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in the Championship 4.
Team Penske has won seven of the last 21 races, including two of the previous three in the playoffs.
Christopher Bell will not advance to the championship after NASCAR determines his last-lap move was a safety violation. NASCAR dropped Bell from 18th to 22nd.
Here’s the rule book from NASCAR:
“Section 10.5.2.6. A of the Cup rulebook reads: “Safety is a top priority for NASCAR and NEM. Therefore, any violations deemed to compromise the safety of an Event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of Competitors, Officials, spectators, or others are treated with the highest degree of seriousness. Safety violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”
William Byron will advance. William Byron does not believe Christopher Bell deserved to be in the NASCAR championship after riding the wall.
Bell congratulated Byron on his advancement to the Championship 4.
Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin also failed to make the Championship 4
In this race, you had drivers bumping other drives. Elliott bumps Larson. Blaney bumps Kyle Larson.
After the race, the media spoke with Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president.
“If you looked at the other situations that were going, [Wallace] and the cars behind [Byron], really no bearing at this time,” Sawyer told reporters Sunday night. “We’ll look at those at a later time.
Elliott won the first stage and led 129 laps. Larson led 71 laps, and Byron 51.
Reddick, Logano, Blaney, and Byron will start on even terms in next Sunday’s Championship 4 Race at Phoenix.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com
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