RICK WARE RACING
Xfinity 500
Date: Nov. 1, 2026
Event: Xfinity 500 (Round 35 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (130 laps/130 laps/240 laps)
Race Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 37th, Finished 33rd / Running, completed 494 of 500 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (35th with 262 points)
Race Notes:
● William Byron won the Xfinity 500 to score his 17th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his fourth at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was 2.049 seconds.
● This was Chevrolet’s 891st all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its 10th of the season. Chase Elliott won for the Bowtie Brigade March 29 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Carson Hocevar won April 26 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Elliott won again May 3 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Shane van Gisbergen won May 10 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Daniel Suárez won May 24 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, van Gisbergen won again June 28 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Kyle Larson won Sept. 13 at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, Sept. 27 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City and last Sunday at Talladega.
● This was Chevrolet’s series-leading 64th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Martinsville. Chevrolet won its first race at Martinsville on May 19, 1957, with NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 47 laps.
● Only seven of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Martinsville with a 67-point advantage over second-place Christopher Bell.
Sound Bites:
“The lack of cautions in the first stage prevented us from getting any sort of track position. We really needed the car to rotate better in the center of the turns. It seemed like no matter what we did, the handling in the turns would not budge. The guys never gave up, and we had moments where we were able to put down some solid lap times, but just never caught the breaks we needed.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Rocket Doctor / Super.com Chevrolet
Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series season finale is Sunday, Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The championship race starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
