Gray Wins as Martinsville Sets Championship 4

Taylor Gray earned his first NASCAR National Series victory at Martinsville, edging Sammy Smith by 0.344 seconds as Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five and Justin Bonsignore scored his first Xfinity top-10 filling in for the injured William Sawalich. In Xfinity, Carson Kvapil, Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier clinched the four-car Championship 4; Kvapil won Stage 2 and held on after a late spin while Love overcame a pit-road penalty and a lap-down late in the race to advance on points. In the Truck Series, Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Kaden Honeycutt advanced to the Championship 4, with Honeycutt winning a tiebreaker over Layne Riggs after finishing second to Heim. William Byron captured the pole for Sunday’s must-win Cup race, leaving several title hopefuls — including Byron, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney — needing victories to reach the Cup Championship 4. Early odds and handicapping favor Ryan Blaney to win and advance, while analysts and prop bettors are watching Kyle Larson given his strong recent short-track form. Martinsville’s penultimate weekend left high stakes across all three national series and carries TV coverage on NBC/Peacock (Cup), The CW (Xfinity) and FS1 (Trucks) with advertised prize pools for the Xfinity and Truck events.