Byron Joins 'Deserving' Championship 4 Field With Martinsville Win

Deserving; that is the word most used by the drivers eliminated from championship contention in Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway to describe the four drivers who will head to Phoenix Raceway with a chance to hoist the Bill France Cup.

William Byron, the regular-season champion, who came into the race weekend with his back against the wall thanks to heartbreaking conclusions to strong efforts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, cemented his status as a Championship 4 contender with a dominant walk-off win on a crisp Sunday evening in Virginia.

Race Results: Xfinity 500 at Martinsville

Could there have been any better timing for Byron's first career walk-off win?

"No. Damn, I got a lot to say, things have a way of working out," Byron said in a post-race interview on NBC. "God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We've been tested. Just unbelievable. I'm out of breath. Thank you, fans, for coming out. Bad-ass crowd. I watched my first NASCAR race up there just before start/finish line. Man, I am just so thankful, excited to see my family, just celebrate this one.

"We obviously go to Phoenix. Just go try to kick ass there."

While it seems unfathomable, Byron's crew chief Rudy Fugle says that due to the issues they experienced the last couple of weeks coming in the Round of 8, it made it easier to push past them and focus on the task at hand -- winning.

"Yeah, I mean at this time of year, it's easier because there's not many weeks left. And all you have to do is win to have a chance to go to Phoenix. So, you have to refocus. If you sit there and worry about other things that have already happened, then nothing good is going to happen," Fugle explained in his post-race press conference.

The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team successfully focused solely on winning at Martinsville, instead of sulking over missed opportunities, and the end result was something overwhelmingly positive. A win, and a chance at a championship.

Byron, who started from the pole position, led the race three times for a race-high 304 laps on his path to his 16th career victory. And in the end, he had to go toe-to-toe with Ryan Blaney, the recent master of Martinsville Speedway, to capture another Martinsville Clock.

Byron's race-winning move came with 44 laps to go in the form of a bump-and-run that allowed him to wrestle the lead away from Blaney as the two were working their way through lapped traffic.