William Byron had a pretty miserable day Sunday in Martinsville as his PODS Chevrolet simply did not want to handle. He would eventually drive up to a 13th-place finish, but that was literally the best that Byron ran all day. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney took the lead with 22 laps to go and took his third win of the year. Not only did that win lock him into the Championship 4, but it also won him the Round of 8. He ended up 15 points ahead of Byron, who claimed the only spot in the Championship 4 on points.

Christopher Bell dropped one place to third after finishing seventh. Denny Hamlin led the most laps and finished third, but came up eight points short of advancing.

Kyle Larson finished sixth, but dropped a spot to fifth. Martin Truex Jr. finished 12th, but was unable to recover from a pit road speeding penalty. As a result, he ended the round in sole possession of sixth. Tyler Reddick struggled all weekend with handling, then made a late stop for a splash of fuel and dropped to seventh. Chris Buescher finished eighth, but was unable to climb out of eighth in points.

Of those already eliminated from the playoffs, Brad Keselowski got caught up in a crash with Ty Gibbs and others, damaging his Kings Hawaiian Ford. Despite making repairs good enough to continue, mechanical issues put him out. Despite that, he finished the round in ninth, 36 points ahead of both Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace (they finished 14th and 11th, respectively). Joey Logano finished fifth and moved up one place to 12th.

Logano jumped over Kyle Busch, who dealt with handling issues and a flat tire on a restart to finish 27th. Kevin Harvick finished 16th in his final Martinsville race and stayed in 14th. Michael McDowell is 15th, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is 16th.

Chase Elliott continues to lead the drivers who did not make the playoffs. A late pit stop dropped Elliott to a 17th-place finish. He has a 44-point lead over Ty Gibbs, who finished 18th despite two spinouts Sunday (at least one of those spins may have been the result of intentional contact). Daniel Suarez was eliminated in the crash spawned from the first of Gibbs' spins and dropped down to 19th. AJ Allmendinger is 20th.

The Championship 4 drivers (Blaney, Byron, Bell and Larson) will have their points reset to 5000 and will battle heads-up for the championship in Phoenix. Outside of that, Hamlin will have a 25-point lead over Reddick for fifth. Keselowski will be seventh, then Buescher and a tie for ninth between Chastain and Wallace.

In the other point standings that we track, Byron would have a four-point lead in the full season points over Hamlin entering Phoenix. Bell would still be alive, but would need a lot of help to get up there.

Byron would have a seven-point lead over Bell in the Old Point standings (standings used prior to the creation of the stages). Buescher would be third, then Hamlin.

The WC Points would have Bell taking the lead Sunday over Byron by 13 points, which is really just a step or two away from being a heads-up battle. Hamlin and Buescher would still be in contention, while Truex would be eliminated when the green flag fell in Phoenix.

In previous versions of the playoffs, things would be a bit less competitive. In the format used from 2011-2013, Byron would have a 28-point lead over Bell. He would win the title by finishing 23rd or better. In both the 2004 and 2007 formats, Byron would lead Bell by 35 points, while Hamlin and Larson would likely be eliminated when the green flag flew.

John Hunter Nemechek led 54 laps Saturday in Martinsville and was in position late. However, he dropped back, then got destroyed in a last-lap crash and finished 18th. Despite the crash, he still won the Round of 8, but he lost half of his lead. The margin of victory was 21 points over Justin Allgaier, who was able to avoid the warring Richard Childress Racing teammates to take the win and move up three spots to second. Cole Custer was also caught up in the big crash and was credited with 19th, dropping him to third, the final spot in the Championship 4 on points. Custer claimed the final spot by seven points over Austin Hill, who ran in the back of Sheldon Creed on the final lap, then spun out and finished 21st.

Sam Mayer had a miserable day in Martinsville, getting caught up in multiple wrecks and finishing 25th. That dropped him down a place to fifth, but he still advances by virtue of his win at Homestead. Sammy Smith clearly had the best car Saturday and led a race-high 147 laps, but couldn't get back to the lead after his final stop. He finished third and ended up sixth in the round. Creed just lost out to Allgaier by .032 seconds Saturday and it was the difference between advancing and elimination. He moved up one place to seventh, but almost no one feels good about it. Chandler Smith was forced to retire with engine issues and dropped to eighth.

Of those already eliminated from the playoffs, Daniel Hemric finished sixth and expanded his advantage to 20 points over Parker Kligerman, who came from three laps down to finish 10th. Josh Berry is still 11th after finishing fifth, while Jeb Burton is 12th.

Riley Herbst has clinched the 13th spot in the final point standings after finishing fourth Saturday. He is 111 points ahead of Brandon Jones. Jones is 98 points ahead of Brett Moffitt, who was caught up in the last lap crash. Parker Retzlaff is 19 points behind Moffitt in 16th after a seventh-place finish.

The Championship 4 drivers (Nemechek, Allgaier, Custer and Mayer) will all have their point totals reset to 4000. Behind them, Hill will have a 14-point lead over Sammy Smith for the fifth spot. Hemric is seventh, then Kligerman, Creed and Chandler Smith.

In the full season points, Nemechek would have a 52-point lead over Allgaier, meaning that he could clinch at the end of the first stage with a third-place finish. In the Old Points, Nemechek would have a 21-point lead over Hill. He would have to finish 17th or better to guarantee the title.

In the prior playoff formats, Nemechek would have a 33-point lead over Allgaier in the 2011 format. Custer would also still be alive. Nemechek would win the title by finishing 29th or better. In the 2004 and 2007 formats, Nemechek would have a 95-point lead over Allgaier and 115 over Custer. He would win the title with a 24th-place finish or better.

Round of 8 Point Standings: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 3181, 2) Justin Allgaier -21, 3) Cole Custer -38, 4) Austin Hill -45, 5) Sam Mayer -58, 6) Sammy Smith -67, 7) Sheldon Creed -91, 8) Chandler Smith -115.

Round of 8 Owner Point Standings: 1) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 (John Hunter Nemechek) 3181, 2) JR Motorsports No. 7 (Justin Allgaier) -21, 3) Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 (Cole Custer) -38, 4) Richard Childress Racing No. 21 (Austin Hill) -45, 5) JR Motorsports No. 1 (Sam Mayer) -59, 6) Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 (Sammy Smith) -67, 7) Kaulig Racing No. 10 (Daniel Hemric) -70, 8) Kaulig Racing No. 16 (Chandler Smith) -117.

Eliminated Playoff Driver Standings: 5) Austin Hill 2229, 6) Sammy Smith -14, 7) Daniel Hemric -21, 8) Parker Kligerman -41, 9) Sheldon Creed -42, 10) Chandler Smith -53, 11) Josh Berry -92, 12) Jeb Burton -128.

Best of the Rest (13-22): 13) Riley Herbst 870, 14) Brandon Jones -111, 15) Brett Moffitt -213, 16) Parker Retzlaff -232, 17) Kaz Grala -280, 18) Ryan Sieg -283, 19) Jeremy Clements -354, 20) Anthony Alfredo -429, 21) Josh Williams -436, 22) Kyle Sieg -443.

Non-Playoff Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 1269, 2) Justin Allgaier -52, 3) Austin Hill -69, 4) Cole Custer -138, 5) Sam Mayer -331, 6) Sheldon Creed -336, 7) Josh Berry -338, 8) Daniel Hemric -350, 9) Parker Kligerman -385, 10) Chandler Smith -391, 11) Riley Herbst -399, 12) Sammy Smith -414, 13) Brandon Jones -510, 14) Jeb Burton -557, 15) Brett Moffitt -612, 16) Parker Retzlaff -631.
 

Playoff Points: 1) John Hunter Nemechek 55, 2) Justin Allgaier -14, 3) Austin Hill -16, 4) Sam Mayer -30, 5) Cole Custer -35, 6) Chandler Smith -46, 7) Sheldon Creed -47, 8) Sammy Smith -48.

Stage Points: 1) Justin Allgaier 359, 2) John Hunter Nemechek -16, 3) Cole Custer -45, 4) Austin Hill -71, 5) Sheldon Creed -141, 6) Chandler Smith -163, 7) Josh Berry -182, 8) Riley Herbst -191, 9) Sam Mayer -192, 10) Sammy Smith -196, 11) Daniel Hemric -201, 12) Brandon Jones -232, 13) Parker Kligerman -250, 14) Brett Moffitt -313, 15) Ryan Truex -318, 16) Ryan Sieg -325.

Note: If they were eligible for points, Ty Gibbs would be 14th, AJ Allmendinger 15th and Kyle Larson 16th in stage points.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 1075, 2) Austin Hill -21, 3) Justin Allgaier -73, 4) Cole Custer -107, 5) Sam Mayer -171, 6) Parker Kligerman -177, 7) Josh Berry -182, 8) Daniel Hemric -183, 9) Sheldon Creed -214, 10) Riley Herbst -242, 11) Sammy Smith -247, 12) Chandler Smith -254, 13) Jeb Burton -262, 14) Brandon Jones -311, 15) Brett Moffitt -335, 16) Parker Retzlaff -336.

WC Points (1-16): 1) John Hunter Nemechek 4742, 2) Austin Hill -104, 3) Justin Allgaier -253, 4) Cole Custer -387, 5) Sam Mayer -604, 6) Josh Berry -636, 7) Parker Kligerman -646, 8) Daniel Hemric -674, 9) Sheldon Creed -778, 10) Riley Herbst -841, 11) Sammy Smith -876, 12) Chandler Smith -893, 13) Jeb Burton -1001, 14) Brandon Jones -1113, 15) Parker Retzlaff -1203, 16) Brett Moffitt -1207.

Race Winners: Austin Hill (Daytona-1, Las Vegas-1, Atlanta-1, Pocono), John Hunter Nemechek (Fontana, Martinsville-1. Atlanta-2, Loudon, Michigan, Kansas, Texas), Sammy Smith (Phoenix), AJ Allmendinger (Austin, Nashville), Chandler Smith (Richmond), Jeb Burton (Talladega), Ryan Truex (Dover), Kyle Larson (Darlington-1), Justin Allgaier (Charlotte, Daytona-2, Bristol, Martinsville-2), Cole Custer (Portland, Chicago), Aric Almirola (Sonoma), Sam Mayer (Road America, Watkins Glen, Charlotte-2), Ty Gibbs (Indianapolis), Denny Hamlin (Darlington-2), Riley Herbst (Las Vegas-2)

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.

"I came here a lot as a kid. I loved watching Dad race here. I wanted a grandfather clock for a long time, ever since I was a kid. There's those little special things that you remember.

"Driving for the Wood Brothers right down the road from here. This place has been so special to me. Victory Lane has eluded me for years and years. I feel like we could have won two or three of 'em. It never happened. Feel like something always happened.

"Everything fell in place today. We were really fast, able to pull it off. Yeah, a lot of joy and a lot of things to be proud of." - Ryan Blaney, race winner