Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (scheduled to take place at 2:00 PM ET on NBC) marks the final race of three in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8.

While the six drivers are still fighting for two remaining Championship 4 berths, Sunday’s race should provide an ultra-entertaining show as drivers will put everything on the line for a chance at the championship, as we’ve seen in recent years at Martinsville.

RACE PREVIEW: NASCAR Playoffs Enter Final Elimination at Martinsville

Goodyear has also brought a new left-side tire designed to bring increased tire wear, which should encourage comers and goers throughout the race, and add an element of unknowns to the day.

Welcome to the Racing America On SI live-race updates page for the Xfinity 500. This page will serve as your guide leading up to and throughout Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff event. This page will be updated with key pre-race updates, in-race updates such as lead changes, and video highlights of crashes or incidents. Also included will be stage and race results, and much more. Continue checking back for additional updates.

Lap 2: Byron got a great initial start and is out front by himself. He leads Lap 1 as his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson moves to second. Ty Gibbs has fallen to third.

2:17 PM ET: Green Flag!

William Byron, the polesitter and Playoff contender, leads the field to the green flag with Ty Gibbs alongside. They head into Turn 1 to begin the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville. 500 laps remain to decide the Championship 4 field.

2:08 PM ET: Engines fired!

After a command to start engines, the field of 37 cars have roared to life on pit road at Martinsville Speedway. The pace laps ahead of the Xfinity 500 are about to begin momentarily.

2:02 PM ET: National Anthem complete

The invocation, which included a nod to those that make the Martinsville Hotdog, and the National Anthem, performed by the Liberty University marching band, have been completed. In minutes, the engines will be fired ahead of Sunday’s race.

Xfinity 500 Pre-Race Information

The Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised on NBC and can be streamed on Peacock and HBO Max. The race broadcast will begin at 2:00 PM ET on Sunday, October 26.

The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will provide the radio broadcast of Sunday’s event. For subscribers of the HBO Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today’s race.

The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Sunday’s event in Sin City, amounts to a total of $9,797,935.

The race distance is a total of 500 laps around the 0.526-mile short track affectionately known as the paperclip, which equates to a race distance of 263 miles. The Xfinity 500 will be broken up into three stages. Stage 1 will end at Lap 130, Stage 2 will end at Lap 260, and the final stage of the race will conclude at the end of Lap 500, barring an overtime finish.

Sunday’s event is the final race of the three-race Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. At the conclusion of the event, the four-driver field that will battle for the Bill France Cup next weekend at Phoenix Raceway will be decided. Should a playoff-eligible driver win the race, who is not already locked into the Championship 4, they will be automatically locked into the Championship 4.

Ryan Blaney is the defending winner of the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500, and has actually captured the win in this event in each of the past two seasons. Blaney will start from the 31st position after a rough performance in Saturday’s qualifying session.

William Byron captured his 16th career NASCAR Cup Series pole and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Xfinity 500. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finds himself below the cutline heading into the event, so, a win would be season-changing for the regular-season champion.

Pos

Car

Driver

1

24

William Byron (P)

2

54

Ty Gibbs

3

5

Kyle Larson (P)

4

22

Joey Logano (P)

5

11

Denny Hamlin (P)

6

41

Cole Custer

7

8

Kyle Busch

8

9

Chase Elliott (P)

9

19

Chase Briscoe (P)

10

2

Austin Cindric

Click here for the full official starting lineup.

(P) indicates Playoff Driver

Other Playoff Drivers: Christopher Bell (12th), Ryan Blaney (31st)

Heading into the final race of the Round of 8 of the Playoffs, two drivers, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, have secured their places in the Championship 4 via wins at Las Vegas and Talladega. Christopher Bell sits 37 points above the cutline, while Kyle Larson comes into the day 36 points above.

While the Playoff picture appears to be quite clear, it can get very dirty if one of the drivers below the cutline can win to advance to the Championship 4, and all four drivers below the cutline have great historical performances at Martinsville.

Playoff Standings Heading Into Martinsville:

Rank

Car

Driver

To Cutline

1

19

Chase Briscoe

ADV

2

11

Denny Hamlin

ADV

3

20

Christopher Bell

+37

4

5

Kyle Larson

+36

CUTLINE

5

24

William Byron

-36

6

22

Joey Logano

-38

7

12

Ryan Blaney

-47

8

9

Chase Elliott

-62

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