Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

Xfinity 500

Martinsville Speedway

October 31st, 2021

Race #35 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season

Previous Race
Xfinity 500
Next Race

Laps Scheduled: 500
- Extended to 501 laps
Miles Raced : 263.5
Time of Race : 03 Hours 42 minutes 48 seconds
Average Speed: 70.968 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.472 seconds
Cautions: 15
Caution Laps: 91
Lead Changes: 15
Cars in Race : 38
Finished On Lead Lap: 25 (66%)

Alex Bowman celebrates in the Ruoff Mortgage victory lane — Martinsville, Virginia - October 31st, 2021: Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, celebrates in the Ruoff Mortgage victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Photo by Logan Riely | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	13	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	52	40	12	5	501	9	2	8	2	Running
2	7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	42	35	7	0	501	0	0	6	9	Running
3	6	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	43	34	9	0	501	0	0	5	8	Running
4	4	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	48	33	15	0	501	9	3	3	4	Running
5	11	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	47	32	15	0	501	0	0	4	3	Running
6	23	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	37	31	6	0	501	0	0	10	6	Running
7	10	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	31	30	1	0	501	0	0	0	10	Running
8	28	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	29	29	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
9	15	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	28	28	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
10	5	22	Joey Logano	Ford	29	27	2	0	501	9	1	9	0	Running
11	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	26	26	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
12	9	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	25	25	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
13	14	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	28	24	4	0	501	5	1	7	0	Running
14	1	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	32	23	9	0	501	77	2	2	0	Running
15	21	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	22	22	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
16	2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	41	21	20	2	501	289	4	1	1	Running
17	12	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	24	20	4	0	501	0	0	0	7	Running
18	18	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	19	19	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
19	25	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
20	32	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	17	17	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
21	29	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
22	22	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	15	15	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
23	24	41	Cole Custer	Ford	14	14	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
24	3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	19	13	6	0	501	103	3	0	5	Running
25	17	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	12	12	0	0	501	0	0	0	0	Running
26	19	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	11	11	0	0	499	0	0	0	0	Running
27	16	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	10	10	0	0	498	0	0	0	0	Running
28	20	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	9	9	0	0	498	0	0	0	0	Running
29	30	78	BJ McLeod	Ford	0	0	0	0	496	0	0	0	0	Running
30	31	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	495	0	0	0	0	Running
31	35	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	492	0	0	0	0	Running
32	27	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	5	5	0	0	491	0	0	0	0	Running
33	37	15	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	490	0	0	0	0	Running
34	36	0	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	3	3	0	0	483	0	0	0	0	Running
35	33	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	0	0	0	0	483	0	0	0	0	Running
36	26	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	414	0	0	0	0	Brakes
37	38	66	Timmy Hill	Ford	0	0	0	0	206	0	0	0	0	Engine
38	34	53	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	Electrical

Race Infractions

Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Denny Hamlin	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Denny Hamlin	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	62	67	Yellow
Ryan Newman	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	73	76	Yellow
Anthony Alfredo	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	132	140	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	135	140	Yellow
Garrett Smithley	Tire violation Uncontrolled Tire	Tail End	135	140	Yellow
Ryan Newman	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	182	186	Green
Austin Dillon	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	199	203	Yellow
Tyler Reddick	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	199	203	Yellow
Kyle Busch	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	264	269	Yellow
Bubba Wallace	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	312	319	Yellow
Garrett Smithley	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	312	319	Yellow
Quin Houff	Reckless Driving 5 Laps	Other - See Notes	322	331	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	325	329	Yellow
Josh Bilicki	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	325	329	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	340	345	Yellow
Ryan Newman	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	341	345	Yellow
Quin Houff	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	342	345	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	380	384	Yellow
Matt DiBenedetto	Car/Truck pitting out of the assigned pit box	1 Lap	380	384	Yellow
Garrett Smithley	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	438	443	Yellow
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	462	466	Yellow
Ryan Newman	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	475	477	Yellow

Dabble in Draftkings or Fan Duel?

My OWNER Subscription has these DFS tools:
Dominator Points Cheatsheet.
Salary Cap Calculator.
Season Salary Trends.
Points by Track.
Points by Start Position.
Season Points Trend.
Points by Race.
Season Boxscore.

Race Weekend Links

New links are added as the race weekend progresses.

Race Fast Facts

Martinsville Speedway
73rd Annual Xfinity 500
Race Winner: Alex Bowman
Age: 28
Team : No. 48 - Ally Chevrolet
Owner: Hendrick Motorsports
Crew Chief: Greg Ives
Alex Bowman won the 73rd Annual Xfinity 500, his sixth victory in 224 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his fourth victory and 16th top-10 finish in 2021.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 12 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Kyle Busch (second) posted his 20th top-10 finish in 33 races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his 21st top-10 finish in 2021.
Brad Keselowski (third) posted his 17th top-10 finish in 24 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Anthony Alfredo (20th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. have all advanced to the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Championship 4 Round.

Race Recap

Alex Bowman triumphs at Martinsville, as Martin Truex Jr. gains Championship 4

October 31st, 2021

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

Denny Hamlin provided the perfect capstone to a day of banged-up stock cars, hurt feelings and crushed dreams.

Alex Bowman took the checkered flag in Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway after sliding up into Hamlin's race-leading Toyota on Lap 494 of 501 and knocking Hamlin's car up the track and into the outside wall.

As Bowman tried to start a burnout to celebrate his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and his first at the .526-mile short track, Hamlin drove to the frontstretch and expressed his displeasure by twice blocking the progress of Bowman's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

"I just got loose in," Bowman said of the accident that gave him the lead. "I got in too deep (into Turn 3), knocked him out of the way and literally let him have the lead back. For anybody that wants to think I was trying to crash him, obviously that wasn't the case, considering I literally gave up the lead at Martinsville to give it back to him.

"He's been on the other side of that. He's crashed guys here for wins. I hate doing it. Obviously, I don't want to crash somebody. I just got in, got underneath him, spun him out...Regardless, we get a free grandfather clock (trophy), which is pretty special."

By the time Bowman took the checkered flag, his teammate, defending Cup champion Chase Elliott already had clinched a spot in next Sunday's Championship 4 race at Phoenix by sweeping the first two stages of the event.

Elliott joins another teammate, two-time Round of 8 winner Kyle Larson, Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. in the quartet that will vie for the series title at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert.

With a damaged car that had slapped the outside wall at the exit of Turn 2 on Lap 471, Truex eked out his berth in the championship race by three points over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, who finished second to Truex's fourth but lost his slim pre-race advantage in the first two stages.

Eliminated from the Playoff with Busch were the Team Penske Fords of Brad Keselowski (third Sunday and eight points below the cutoff), Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.

Hamlin, who started from the rear after his car twice failed pre-race inspection, had enough of a margin entering the race that his 24th-place finishing position didn't cost him a chance at the championship. But that was little consolation for the lost opportunity to add to his collection of five grandfather clocks.

"He's just a hack," Hamlin said of the race winner. "Just an absolute hack. He gets his ass kicked by his teammates every week. He's (expletive) terrible. He's just terrible. He sees one opportunity, he takes it.

"Obviously, he's got the fast car of the week and he runs 10th. He didn't want to race us there. We had a good, clean race. I moved up as high as I could on the race track to give him all the room I could - he still can't drive."

Lane choice helped Truex gain the final four after Aric Almirola got loose and forced him up the track on Lap 471, costing Truex positions and the eventual scrape with the wall. Truex gained spots on the subsequent restart on Lap 478 and chose the outside lane—directly behind Busch—for the final restart on Lap 500.

"I have no idea how we finished fourth," Truex said of the contact with the wall. "I'm going to buy a lottery ticket on the way home."

Even though Busch struggled with the handling of his No. 18 Toyota throughout the afternoon at Martinsville, he blamed his 28th-place finish last weekend at Kansas for his failure to advance to the Championship 4 Round.

"We just missed last week," said the two-time series champion—and the only active driver with more than one title. "That's where we lost all the ground. Could have come in here with 15 more points, we would have been fine on the cut. Just wasn't it. Wasn't meant to be. Obviously, it was Truex's day. We had a Hail Mary opportunity there at the end. Just didn't materialize.

"All in all, just proud of the effort for sure. We slung everything and anything at this thing today, couldn't really make it come alive. Great effort. That was there, for sure. We've just got to get better, everybody included, the whole team, in order to be able to go race with the best and race for a championship. We're not going to do that this year."

Neither will Bowman, who was eliminated from the Playoffs in the Round of 12. But the victory at NASCAR's most venerable track, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary next year, was ample compensation.

Not to mention the free clock.