Xfinity 500 highlights: Ryan Blaney wins, advances to Championship 4
The NASCAR Cup Series' 10-race playoff schedule continued Sunday with the all-important Xfinity 500, and we had you covered with all the action from Ryan Blaney's big win in front of a sold-out crowd at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
With the win, Blaney joins Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron in the Championship 4 (Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. ET) at Phoenix Raceway.
Sunday's race was the third and final race in the Round of 8. The eight-driver playoff field included Blaney (also won Talladega), Bell (won Homestead-Miami), Byron (won Texas), Larson (won Las Vegas and Darlington), Denny Hamlin (won Bristol), Tyler Reddick (won Kansas), Martin Truex Jr. and Chris Buescher.
You can find a full list of winners so far this year, as well as the season's remaining schedule here.
Recap our live coverage below.
Green!
Truex started on the pole for the second consecutive week, followed by Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Hamlin and Larson. He led the opening five laps and built his lead to over a second through 15 laps.
Beep, beep
Elsewhere, Blaney put the bumper to Bubba Wallace as things continued to heat up in the opening stage.
Coming through!
The race continued to run under green as Stage 1 came to a close, and Hamlin opened up a 1.3 second lead over Truex.
Trouble on the backstraightaway
Alex Bowman got into Harrison Burton off Turn 2, bringing out the caution for the first time Sunday.
Stage 1 in the books
Hamlin won the first stage, holding off Blaney and picking up 10 huge stage points in the process.
Contact!
Buescher and Byron bumped into each other a bit at the start of the second stage, but both were able to keep racing.
Follow the leader
The green flag was back out on Lap 140 with Hamlin out in front of the rest of the field.
No quit
Byron and Reddick were battling each other early in Stage 2 …
Eyes on the prize!
… but it was Blaney who pulled the ultimate power move and captured the lead to shake up the playoff picture.
Chaos!
Blaney's lead was more than a second over Hamlin with 50 laps remaining in Stage 2 before he slid into Reddick.
All gas, no brakes
The green flag returned with 35 laps to go ahead of the third and final stage. Blaney and Hamlin continued to race side-by-side for the lead coming up on 20 laps to go in Stage 2.
Blaney takes Stage 2
The No. 12 driver took the Stage 2 win, becoming the seventh Cup Series driver with 35 career stage wins all-time.
Trouble in Turn 4!
Gibbs spun out on the inside of the track, collecting Daniel Suárez, Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski in the process.
Making moves
With 50 laps to go, Aric Almirola opened up a four-second lead on Chase Elliott amid the longest green-flag run of the day.
He'll take that!
Blaney took the lead from Almirola with 20 laps to go, as all the remaining drivers gave an all-out effort late in the race.
Winner!
In the end, Blaney was able to hang onto the top spot and punch his ticket to the championship race.
Just like that, the Championship 4 was set: Larson, Bell, Bryon and Blaney.
PRE-RACE
Setting the stage
Ahead of the action, FOX Sports' Bob Pockrass broke down who and what to keep an eye out for in Sunday's race.
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