After two consecutive heartbreaking races, William Byron got one back on Lady Luck at Martinsville

It felt like Lady Luck was inflicting her worst on William Byron in the penultimate round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. 

While running second in the Oct. 12 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ty Dillon suddenly slowed in an attempt to get to pit road. Byron was not informed of Dillon's intent to pit, which led to a vicious impact and a subsequent 36th-place finish. One week later at Talladega, Byron was running fifth on the final lap when he was spun by Carson Hocevar and finished 25th. 

Byron's title hopes had crumbled after two incidents that were completely out of his control, and the two-time Daytona 500 champion needed a win at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday to advance to the Championship 4. 

And after Byron won the pole and swept the stages in Sunday's Xfinity 500, it looked like he may not have enough to usurp Ryan Blaney, who won the 2023 and 2024 Martinsville fall races en route to the Championship 4. 

William Byron bounces back at Martinsville

With 44 laps to go, however, Byron put the bumper to Blaney, moving him out of the way for the race lead. Byron didn't look back from there, holding off Blaney despite a late-race restart to score a huge win that lifts him to the Championship 4. 

"I mean, that’s what you guys want to see, right? We’re going for it," Byron said in his post-race news conference. "I feel like in that situation, I never wanted to make contact because I felt like I had a good position, like I was inside of him. We also had the lap car. I can’t see where the lap car is in that instance. I just knew I wanted to commit to the corner and have position.

"I hate that we made contact. I think he was probably leaving just enough space, as well. I was going into the corner committed. That’s kind of fighting for space. It’s hard racing. We both want to make the Championship 4. It’s a race win. It’s no ill will."

After a heartbreaking Round of 8 through two races, Byron and the No. 24 team were resilient when they needed to be. That's the mark of a championship-caliber race team. Byron will be one of the four drivers fighting for the Cup Series title at Phoenix next week. 

"I think I just have good people around me and good perspective," Byron said. "I found that perspective, I don’t know exactly when, but I just found it. I felt good coming here. Like, obviously I was nervous. Everyone’s nervous. They want to win. They want to do the best job they can. They don’t want to let their team down.

"I think I’m just thankful to have good people around me and a good team. Definitely the last two weeks were very depressing because there was no result. When Talladega happened the way it did, I was almost numb to the result. It just seems like it’s just been happening this way. You just kind of keep digging in, keep digging your heels in. We just came here with a lot of determination.

"Our team could have gone one or two ways: we could have been like Vegas didn’t go well, Talladega we had a shot to win, whatever happens at Martinsville. But we came here on offense."

That resilient spirit will need to be carried to the Arizona desert by the No. 24 team as Byron searches for his first Cup Series championship. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.