Harrison Burton wins again, conquers Martinsville
Cindric, Allgaier, and Haley join Briscoe in Championship 4 fight at Phoenix Raceway
MARTINSVILLE, VA. – As the Championship 4 finalized behind him, Harrison Burton was taking another checkered flag, this time at Martinsville Speedway, the fourth of the season and of his career.
In the closing laps, Burton was able to hold off Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, and the rest of the field to win the Draft Top 250.
“It was a really fun race,” Burton said after the race. “Martinsville is one of those places that’s really cool to win at. For me in particular because my family is from here. There’s a guy in a hot dog for Halloween. The fans here are awesome. It’s amazing to win here at what is one of my home tracks I would say and do what my dad did. I think it was his first Xfinity win was here.”
"What's up dad?!?!" – @HBurtonRacing says to his father @JeffBurton after his win at @MartinsvilleSwy! pic.twitter.com/RlgHFFcbPp
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) October 31, 2020
Burton led the most laps on the day, a total of 81. Unfortunately for Burton, he was eliminated from the playoffs after the Charlotte ROVAL, but that hasn’t stopped him from collecting trophies to finish out the season.
On the Championship 4 battle, Austin Cindric, Justin Haley, and Allgaier all held on to their points position coming into the penultimate race of the season.
Chase Briscoe, winner at Kansas Speedway, was the only man locked into the title fight after two races in the Round of 8. Briscoe battled possible brake issues throughout the race, and wound up finishing seventh.
Allgaier had the best finish of the playoff bunch with a second place effort on the day. Cindric had the most points entering the race, started on the pole position, and cruised to a 10th place by the end of the race. Haley held on to a 12th place finish after a late run in with JJ Yeley, and subsequent engine woes following that.
Gragson and Ross Chastain were contenders all day, but only a win could have advanced them to the finale. Gragson wound up third, while Chastain fell to fifth.
Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg were the other two drivers eliminated after Martinsville, finishing ninth and eleventh, respectively.
***
In the 250 lap return to Martinsville Speedway, there were 10 cautions for 63 laps, including one red flag after a three-car pileup entering Turn 3 dragged grass and mud onto the racing surface. It was the first race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Martinsville Speedway since 2006, which was won by Kevin Harvick.
The season finale will go off at Phoenix Raceway next week. It will be Briscoe versus Cindric versus Allgaier versus Haley for the title. The highest finisher at Phoenix will take the championship.
Only one more race remains at Martinsville this weekend, the main event for the NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity 500 will go off at 2:00 pm ET on Sunday, November 1st.
Check out the photo gallery from the press box! All photos by Justin Melillo / TRE.
Categories
