Byron dominated much of Saturday night’s race, leading 212 of 403 laps, but a late caution on lap 394, triggered when Todd Gilliland hit the wall at Turns 3 and 4, sent the event into a two-lap overtime and bunched the field one last time.
Byron cleared off in the lead and took the white flag but Logano tried to get to his rear bumper off Turn 4 for a pass, only to narrowly miss out on completing it and Byron took the win by 0.303 seconds for his first victory at Martinsville.
Byron, who won three weeks ago at Atlanta, ended the streak of seven different winners in the first seven races. It was also his fourth career victory.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers have now won four of the season’s first eight races.
“It feels awesome,” said Byron, who also won Thursday night’s Truck race at the track. “I knew when that last caution came out I thought everyone behind us would pit and luckily we stayed out.
“We were aggressive, we felt we could re-fire on the tyres and you got one of the most aggressive guys behind you in Logano. I chattered the tyres in [Turns] 3 and 4 and I left the bottom [lane] but was able to block my exits and get a good drive off.
“This one is for my mum [Dana]. This same weekend last year she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here, and it’s been a crazy year, but she’s doing great, and thanks, everybody, for the support.
“I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It’s cool to have her here, and I’m definitely going to enjoy this one.”
Austin Dillon ended up third ahead of Ryan Blaney in fourth and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five.
The race was unusually calm by Martinsville standards, with only four cautions – two of which were for the stage breaks. There were five lead changes among four drivers but a couple were the result of a round of green flag pitstops in the final stage.
Kurt Busch grabbed sixth in front of Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola, as Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott, who started on the pole and led the first 185 laps, completed the top 10.
NASCAR Martinsville - Race results
Cla | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 403 | |
2 | Joey Logano | Ford | 403 | 0.303 |
3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 403 | 0.524 |
4 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 403 | 0.732 |
5 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 403 | 1.427 |
6 | Kurt Busch | Toyota | 403 | 1.520 |
7 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 403 | 1.639 |
8 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 403 | 1.773 |
9 | Chase Briscoe | Ford | 403 | 1.906 |
10 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 403 | 2.150 |
11 | Austin Cindric | Ford | 403 | 2.156 |
12 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 403 | 2.243 |
13 | Erik Jones | Chevrolet | 403 | 2.384 |
14 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 403 | 2.549 |
15 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 403 | 2.580 |
16 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 403 | 2.807 |
17 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 403 | 2.825 |
18 | Tyler Reddick | Chevrolet | 403 | 3.220 |
19 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 403 | 4.382 |
20 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 402 | 1 Lap |
21 | Cole Custer | Ford | 402 | 1 Lap |
22 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 401 | 2 Laps |
23 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 401 | 2 Laps |
24 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 401 | 2 Laps |
25 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 400 | 3 Laps |
26 | Harrison Burton | Ford | 400 | 3 Laps |
27 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Chevrolet | 400 | 3 Laps |
28 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 400 | 3 Laps |
29 | Daniel Suarez | Chevrolet | 399 | 4 Laps |
30 | Todd Gilliland | Ford | 399 | 4 Laps |
31 | Justin Haley | Chevrolet | 398 | 5 Laps |
32 | Corey Lajoie | Chevrolet | 397 | 6 Laps |
33 | Cody Ware | Ford | 394 | 9 Laps |
34 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | 392 | 11 Laps |
35 | Josh Bilicki | Chevrolet | 391 | 12 Laps |
36 | B.J. McLeod | Ford | 132 | 271 Laps |
View full results |