Xfinity 500

William Byron won the Xfinity 500 at historic Martinsville Speedway to clinch his spot in the Championship 4 by dominating the weekend, from winning the pole, to both stages, leading a career high 304 laps, and ultimately the race itself. Byron was met with many cheers and a happy crew, saying “Things have a way of working out. God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We've been tested. Just unbelievable.” Ryan Blaney, who for the past two years won this race to clinch his spot in the playoffs, finished second after leading much of the final stage. With the second-place finish, Blaney was eliminated from this year’s Championship 4. Chase Elliott, who finished third, also fell short of moving on in the playoffs. Ross Chastain finished fourth and Kyle Larson fifth. With the fifth-place finish, Larson secured the last remaining spot in the Championship 4 on points, beating out Christopher Bell by seven points. Joey Logano was the other driver eliminated as he finished eight. 

William Byron was on the outside looking in on the Championship 4 NASCAR playoffs as Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe were locked in due to their wins in the past two weeks, while Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell both were well above the cut line in points. Therefore, Byron was in a must-win situation, along with his teammate Chase Elliott and Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Byron took the first step in his quest by securing the pole position while Ty Gibbs started beside him. Byron jumped out to the early lead while Larson was in second place. The first caution flag came out as Bubba Wallace turned Daniel Suarez in turn 2. Michael McDowell took two tires and got in front of Byron who took four tires, but Byron was able to pass McDowell on the outside when the green flag came back out. Byron would win the first stage by 3.5 seconds.

Byron started stage two just like stage one, out front and pulling away from the field. The next caution came out on lap 216 as Carson Hocevar spun out in turn two while he was in the 25thposition. The leaders chose to pit for new tires and Byron came out up front again. They would only run a few laps before Cole Custer was hit from behind by Josh Berry, spinning Custer out and bringing out another caution flag. Once again, they would only make a couple of laps before Cody Ware would lose his right rear tire and bring out a caution. Byron would not be phased by all the action on the track and would win stage two, sweeping the stages for the day. 

The final stage started with a jumbled-up field as pit strategy would put Byron back in the seventh spot and Reddick would lead the field to the restart. Blaney was able to pass Reddick for the lead. Josh Berry spun out on lap 279 when he was three wide in turn two, bringing out the next caution. Blaney would maintain the lead on the restart with Hamlin in second. On lap 379, Eric Jones spun out in the middle of green flag pit stops, leaving Ross Chastain out front as Blaney had previously pitted. After everyone else pitted under caution, it was Blaney in first and Byron in second. Hocevar spun out again on lap 398 as he slowed on the frontstretch and was hit from behind by Suarez. Once again, Blaney jumped to the lead with Byron right behind him. Byron was able to get beside Blaney going in to turn one with 44 laps remaining and Byron was able to come out of turn two with the lead. Hocevar once again spun out with 18 laps remaining when his teammate McDowell hit him in the rear. The leaders pitted for new tires, setting up an 11-lap shootout. Byron was able to pull away from Blaney coming out of turn two on the restart and never looked back, winning the race by .65 seconds over Blaney. 

Excitement was in the air for the Late Model NASCAR race at historic Martinsville Speedway for the running of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and unfortunately, so was the rain.  Weather was not a factor for the four 25 lap qualifying races.

The first heat saw Carson Loftin in his Autos by Nelson Toyota take the win and securing the pole position for the feature race with Cody Kelly finishing second.  Heat #2 saw fan favorite Lee Pulliam win in his first race since last year’s Martinsville race in his Chevy and Jared Fryar finished second. Trevor Ward looked strong in his Heat #3 win over Landon Pembelton, winning by the largest margin in any of the heat races. In the final Heat of the night, Tristan McKee won in his Spire Chevrolet with Ryan Gentry finishing in the runner-up position.

The main event started with heat race winners Carson Loftin on the pole and Lee Pulliam beside him. Heat three and four winners Trevor Ward and Tristan McKee started on the second row. Loftin jumped out to an early lead, but Ward was able to get by him and pace the field for a good portion of the first segment of the race. The first rain delay started at the end of the segment and after the red flag event, everyone made their extended pit stop. During a restart early in the second segment, Ward jumped the green flag, bringing out the black flag for a mandatory pit stop that took him out of contention. Pulliam had a strong car that he kept out front for many laps of the second segment, but just like earlier in the race, the rain returned, and the red flag came out. While Pulliam and his team were hoping for a rain-shortened race, the track dryers were doing their job and got the track ready for the final 25 lap shoot-out. It was a spirited race between Pulliam and Landon Pembelton with Pulliam finally pulling away and it looked like he was on his way to winning his third grandfather clock, but as fate would have it, the caution flag came out again, giving Pembelton one last shot. Pembelton made the most of the opportunity and moved Pulliam out of the way with two laps remaining. Pulliam tried to return the favor but came up a few feet short at the finish line, earning Pembelton his second grandfather clock. 

The ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway was the final race of the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown. The first race of the Triple Crown was run at South Boston Speedway and was won by Conner Hall driving his JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The second leg was run at Langley Speedway and Matt Waltz came out on top of that event with Hall finishing second. That put Hall in the driver’s seat at Martinsville for the final race with an average finish of 1.5.  Hall did what he needed to do to be crowned the champion by finishing in 11th place at Martinsville to take the $20,000 check sponsored by FloRacing. Parker Eatmon was second in the standings with Carson Lofton third.

Austin Dillon was in victory lane for the second straight year at Richmond Raceway, this time after leading the final 48 laps and holding of a hard charging Alex Bowman to secure his playoff spot. As Dillon celebrated his victory, he revealed that he has been battling a broken rib the past two weeks. “Man, that feels good. Got to thank the Good Lord above. I really wanted that one. Last year hurt really bad, but this one feels so sweet.” Alex Bowman finished second and expressed his frustrations about the lapped cars. “I sure complained about it on the radio, just broke the tires off too much in lap traffic. Didn’t get any brakes.” The Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. 

Ryan Preece won his first pole of the year and led the field to the green flag to start the race with Tyler Reddick beside him. Preece jumped out front and stayed there for the first part of the race but chose to stay out during the green flag pit stops and was passed by Tyler Reddick who had fresh tires. Reddick held on to win stage one with his teammate Bubba Wallace second and fellow Toyota driver Denny Hamlin third

Wallace dominated an active stage two which saw two caution flags, one for a twelve-car pile-up which ended his race and took him out of contention for winning the regular season championship. Another accident occurred when Daniel Suarez contacted Ty Gibbs, sending Gibbs into Reddick. Reddick sustained damage, but was able to continue, albeit taking him out of contention for the win. Wallace won the second stage for his career first short track stage win. 

Wallace dominated much of the race, leading 123 of the 400 laps, but he lost a wheel during a pit stop on lap 299, ending his chance for a win. Seven laps later, the Gibbs car caught fire, but he was able to continue. Tire wear was the concern of the night for the teams and Austin Dillon’s team decided to pit early therefore giving him a decisive advantage during the key stretch of the final portion of the race. Dillon battled Ryan Blaney during the final 100 laps, but Blaney faded near the end, allowing Alex Bowman to get into the mix. Bowman made a gallant effort but could only come within 2.4 seconds of Dillon, who won the race without controversy this year.

The 2025 Great Race started in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 21 with 124 entries and finished with 112 vehicles crossing the finish line in Irmo, South Carolina on June 29.  The course wound through nine states and encompassed 2,300 miles.  The vehicles were all pre-1974 models and participated in five divisions.  The event was first contested in 1983 and has been ran in all corners of the United States.  This year the Grand Champion team was Jeff and Eric Fredette from Beecher, Illinois and they took home the $50,000 prize.  

It was a beautiful night at Rice Lake Speedway for the Henry Repeating Arms Springtime Modified spectacular. Blake Adams started from fifth position and made it to the lead with ten laps remaining. He was able to hang on to the lead over Jack Rivord for the win and secure his second win of the season in his rookie campaign in the Wissota Auto Racing Modified division. Adams also was the hard charger of the race for making the most passes, moving up five spots in the race.

Devon Fries picked up his first win of the year in the Pure Stock feature. Fries jumped out to an early lead and battled the rest of the way to secure the win after keeping Eric Crosby at bay. Crosby was looking for his third win for this season but came in third. George Richards finished a hard fought second.

In the Street Stock class, Nick Traynor continued his domination this year by winning his third straight race at the track. Traynor was able to work himself in to the lead by lap seven and never looked back. Cody Cimfl and Travis Loew finished second and third.

Eric Olson had a dominant performance in the Super Stock feature, starting on the pole and never relinquishing the spot for the win. It was Olson’s first win of the year at the track, but it did not come without some late race drama as the yellow flag came out late in the race, setting up a two-lap sprint to the finish. Olson was able to jump out to a good lead, leaving Shawn McFadden and Curt Myers having to settle for second and third place respectfully.

It was Nick Koehler who picked up his second win of the season at the track in the Midwest Modified main event. Koehler was working the top line as Mike Schnider was making the bottom line work well for him. Koehler had to make adjustments to his line and ended up holding off Schnider by a margin of .022 second for the closest finish of the night.  

It was an exciting weekend in Winston-Salem NC at Bowman Gray Stadium.  For a summary of the race and pictures of the event, visit our Cup series page.  Cup Series 2025 1st Half