NASCAR: Martinsville results, standings – Chase Elliott clinches

Chase Elliott won the final race of the round of 8 of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway to clinch his first career Championship 4 berth.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott entered the third and final race of the round of 8 of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Martinsville Speedway, the Xfinity 500, effectively needing to win to advance to the Championship 4.

Indeed, that is how it played out down the stretch based on where the other championship contenders were running, and it was Elliott who took the checkered flag for the first time ever at “The Paperclip”, a career-high fourth time this year, and the 10th time in his career.

As a result, the driver of the #9 Chevrolet is slated to advance to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway for the first time in his career.

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Elliott led a career-high 236 laps of this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia en route to a 6.577-second win over Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in second place behind the wheel of his #12 Ford. Team Penske’s Joey Logano finished in third behind the wheel of his #22 Ford.

Multiple times, Elliott lost ground in the pits. On one occasion, he was penalized for a crew member being over the wall too soon. But realizing his mistake, that crew member jumped back over the wall before jumping back over to work on the car. It cost Elliott time in the pits, but his team appealed the penalty, and that penalty was rescinded.

With 44 laps remaining, Elliott took the lead away from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who led the second highest number of laps with 129 laps led. Truex ended up having a loose wheel on his #19 Toyota, and he had to pit unexpectedly and settled for 22nd place, costing them a shot to advance to the Championship 4. Elliott did not relinquish the lead from that point forward.

With Elliott having pulled away late and Logano having already clinched his spot in the Championship 4 by winning the round of 8 opener at Kansas Speedway, it was a three-way battle for two remaining spots in the Championship 4 between Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

Hamlin and Keselowski both led Harvick by a mere one point heading into the last lap. Harvick, who would have secured the tiebreaker over both of the other drivers thanks to his second place finish at Kansas Speedway, tried to secure that point by wrecking Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch for a position in the final turn on the final lap.

He was successful in turning Busch’s #18 Toyota around, but Busch turned forward and finished in ninth place. Harvick ended up crashing his #4 Ford and finishing in 17th while Keselowski advanced from fourth behind the wheel of his #2 Ford and Hamlin advanced from 11th behind the wheel of his #11 Toyota.

Team Penske secured their second 2-3-4 finish at Martinsville Speedway this season, as they also recorded such a result back in June, with Truex leading Blaney, Keselowski and Logano.

The other two round of 8 drivers who failed to advance to the Championship 4 were Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman, who finished in fifth and sixth place behind the wheels of their #1 Chevrolet and #88 Chevrolet, respectively.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Chase Elliott
2nd – Ryan Blaney
3rd – Joey Logano
4th – Brad Keselowski
5th – Kurt Busch
6th – Alex Bowman
7th – Aric Almirola
8th – Clint Bowyer
9th – Kyle Busch
10th – Matt DiBenedetto
11th – Denny Hamlin
12th – Erik Jones
13th – Cole Custer
14th – Matt Kenseth
15th – Christopher Bell
16th – Ty Dillon
17th – Kevin Harvick
18th – Ryan Newman
19th – Ryan Preece
20th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st – Bubba Wallace
22nd – Martin Truex Jr.
23rd – Austin Dillon
24th – Tyler Reddick
25th – Corey LaJoie
26th – John Hunter Nemechek
27th – Daniel Suarez
28th – Michael McDowell
29th – Timmy Hill
30th – Jimmie Johnson
31st – J.J. Yeley
32nd – Josh Bilicki
33rd – Quin Houff
34th – Joey Gase
35th – William Byron
36th – James Davison
37th – Brennan Poole
38th – Chris Buescher
39th – Garrett Smithley

Here are the updated playoff standings following Elliott’s win.

Rank – Driver: Points (Behind) (Wins/Playoff Points)
1st – Denny Hamlin: 5000 (0), (7 WINS/56 PP)
1st – Brad Keselowski: 5000 (0), (4 WINS/35 PP)
1st- Chase Elliott: 5000 (0), (4 WINS/34 PP)
1st – Joey Logano: 5000 (0), (3 WINS/27 PP)

The highest finisher of these four drivers in the season finale is slated to be crowned champion.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to conclude with the Championship 4 race next Sunday, November 8. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.