Martin Truex Jr. destroyed the field at Martinsville Speedway Sunday, leading almost the entire race en route to victory in the First Data 500.
Truex led 464 of the 500 laps to win his seventh race of the season and the 26th of his career. The victory makes him the first driver to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 playoff finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We’ve wanted to win here for a long time … I used to be terrible here,” Truex told NBCSN afterward.
While Truex cruised to the easy win, unexpected drama broke out elsewhere. With 43 laps remaining, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin were racing side by side when Hamlin pinched Logano into the wall. Logano cut a tire and spun, losing track position. Following the race, the two drivers scuffled on pit road.
“We were having a discussion, everything was civil, and then like Joey does, he does a little push and runs away,” Hamlin told NBCSN.
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“I just wanted to talk to him about it, I was pretty frustrated,” Logano said. “I just wanted to see what he had to say, and he wasn’t apologetic at all, which was really frustrating.”
Logano finished eighth, while Hamlin ended up fourth.
Chase Elliott suffered a broken axle and finished 36th, digging himself a huge hole in Round of 8.
The NASCAR playoffs continue Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway.
NASCAR playoff points standings 2019
| Rank | Driver | Wins | Points |
| No. 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | 7 | 4,102 |
| No. 2 | Denny Hamlin | 5 | 4,082 |
| No. 3 | Kyle Busch | 4 | 4,075 |
| No. 4 | Joey Logano | 2 | 4,072 |
| No. 5 | Kevin Harvick | 3 | 4,058 |
| No. 6 | Ryan Blaney | 1 | 4,057 |
| No. 7 | Kyle Larson | 1 | 4,048 |
| No. 8 | Chase Elliott | 3 | 4,028 |
| No. 9 | Brad Keselowski | 3 | 2,264 |
| No. 10 | William Byron | 0 | 2,227 |
| No. 11 | Clint Bowyer | 0 | 2,191 |
| No. 12 | Alex Bowman | 1 | 2,172 |
| No. 13 | Kurt Busch | 1 | 2,161 |
| No. 14 | Aric Almirola | 0 | 2,159 |
| No. 15 | Ryan Newman | 0 | 2,148 |
| No. 16 | Erik Jones | 1 | 2,091 |
| No. 17 | Jimmie Johnson | 0 | 773 |
| No. 18 | Daniel Suarez | 0 | 764 |
| No. 19 | Paul Menard | 0 | 715 |
| No. 20 | Chris Buescher | 0 | 669 |
| No. 21 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 | 642 |
| No. 22 | Matt DiBenedetto | 0 | 635 |
| No. 23 | Austin Dillon | 0 | 628 |
| No. 24 | Ty Dillon | 0 | 564 |
| No. 25 | Ryan Preece | 0 | 467 |
| No. 26 | Daniel Hemric | 0 | 467 |
| No. 27 | Bubba Wallace | 0 | 459 |
| No. 28 | Michael McDowell | 0 | 455 |
| No. 29 | Corey LaJoie | 0 | 392 |
| No. 30 | David Ragan | 0 | 375 |
| No. 31 | Matt Tifft | 0 | 352 |
| No. 32 | Reed Sorenson | 0 | 116 |
| No. 33 | Quin Houff | 0 | 73 |
| No. 34 | Jamie McMurray | 0 | 19 |
| No. 35 | Austin Theriault | 0 | 17 |
| No. 36 | Andy Seuss | 0 | 9 |
| No. 37 | Stanton Barrett | 0 | 2 |
| No. 38 | Casey Mears | 0 | 1 |
How the NASCAR playoffs work:
Sixteen NASCAR drivers qualified for the playoffs. Four were eliminated in the Sept. 29 race at Charlotte. Four more were eliminated in the Oct. 20 race at Kansas, and four more will fall out at Phoenix on Nov. 10, leaving the final four drivers to compete straight up for for the NASCAR Cup title Nov. 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the first of the four playoff drivers to cross the finish line is crowned the champion.
How drivers earn points:
– Win Stage 1 or Stage 2 in a race: 1 playoff point (point awarded per stage win)
– Win a race: 5 playoff points
– Win the regular-season championship: 15 playoff points
Second place in the final regular-season standings earns 10 playoff points, third place receives eight points, and the points awarded decline to one point for 10th (4th = 7 points, 5th = 6 points, etc.).
Championship-contending drivers can accumulate additional playoff points throughout the playoffs via stage and race wins and may use all the playoff points they earn, from both the regular season and the playoffs, to advance all the way up to the Championship 4.
Playoff points are added to a championship-contending driver’s reset points total at the start of every round of the playoffs until they are eliminated from championship contention.
At Homestead-Miami, playoff points are off the table, and the Championship 4 drivers enter the “winner-take-all” race tied in the standings.
Cup playoff information provided by NASCAR.