Byron races to NASCAR Cup- leading 2nd victory

MARTINSVILLE, VA. » William Byron took the lead on pit road after Stage 2 stops and held it pretty much the rest of the way at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday night to become the first repeat winner this season in NASCAR’S Cup Series.

Byron needed to hold off a challenge — and a nudge — from Joey Logano on a two- lap overtime sprint to finish it, but won for the fourth time in his career and gave Hendrick Motorsports four victories in eight races this season.

Byron had both a fast car that allowed him to pull away on restarts and a strong one on long runs, critical since there wasn’t a caution for anything but the end of a stage until the 311th of 400 laps on the 0.526mile oval.

That changed when Todd Gilliland had a flat tire and hit the wall with five laps to go. Byron and the top eight cars on the track opted not to pit, with Byron picking the inside lane and Austin Dillon on the outside running second.

Logano, running third and behind Byron, got a better jump than Dillon on the restart and bumped Byron in Turn 2 on the last lap, but Byron held on for his second win of the weekend. He won in the Truck Series on Thursday night.

Logano was second, followed by Dillon, Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain.

Dillon appeared to have a car likely to challenge on a long green- flag run, and beat Logano for second on a restart with 80 laps to go, but after Byron pulled away, lapped traffic and consistency helped him build a nearly 3- second lead.

The start of the race was delayed by more than an hour when rain and some sleet fell on an already frigid night.