The NASCAR Cup Sequence is right down to its ultimate 4. After Ryan Blaney received at Martinsville on Sunday, he cemented his place within the Championship 4 alongside Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron, and Marty Smith and Ryan McGee received collectively to hash out the fallout from Southern Virginia.

McGee: So, we now have our Championship 4. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin we knew going into Martinsville. Now we now have we now have Ryan Blaney and William Byron, I prefer it. I like this group.

Marty: I like this group lots, too. However you misspoke. It is really Kyle Larson, not Denny Hamlin.

McGee: Dammit! That is what I meant.

Marty: [Laughing] I knew what you meant, and I get why you probably did it.

McGee: It goes again to what we talked in regards to the final time we did this, two weeks in the past, after we each thought this was Danny Hamlin’s yr and it is not his yr. However sure, we do have a veteran within the type of Kyle Larson. My unhealthy, Kyle.

– Watch Marty & McGee on SEC Community, Saturdays at 9 a.m. ET

Marty: One other close to miss for Hamlin, and as they mount, it is attention-grabbing the criticism that comes with it. I noticed this morning {that a} former monitor operator wrote a really attention-grabbing social media publish questioning Hamlin’s conviction, his intelligence, all types of various issues, and whether or not he would ever win a championship. It is attention-grabbing to me that there could be any query about that for individuals who perceive the nuance of NASCAR racing, particularly that it’s the consummate group sport.

McGee: I consider Teddy Roosevelt had a line about this. The person within the enviornment. Or, on this case, the person within the bullring half-mile oval in Southern Virginia.

Marty: This format is cruel, McGee. It’s cruel. And in case you have a kind of moments the place you might have a foul pitstop on the unsuitable time, in case you have a component failure on the unsuitable time, if there is a crash in entrance of you on the unsuitable time … It may possibly smash your alternative to win a championship. It is simply one other yr for Denny. He is a primary poll Corridor of Famer it doesn’t matter what occurs, however he’ll really feel like there is a substantial void in his profession if he would not find yourself profitable one finally.

McGee: This format makes it like several postseason in every other sport, which is what I’ve tried to inform individuals who — nonetheless, by the way in which — act like that is brand-new and it is not. NFL, NBA, baseball, no matter; the individuals who have had incredible seasons are nonetheless rewarded, as a result of it could have been a disgrace if William Byron wasn’t within the Championship 4. It could have been a disgrace if Kyle Larson wasn’t within the Championship 4. Christopher Bell, that is his second straight yr in there, and Ryan Blaney, who needed to race his means in.

It is no totally different than after we get to the NFC and AFC Championship video games. There’s normally at the very least two groups that we knew all yr could be there, and there is at the very least one group that form of crashed the social gathering. And you continue to cannot say nobody deserved it. That is what I preferred about this group.

Marty: Yeah, you return to the New England Patriots, who have been undefeated in 2007, however they received to the Tremendous Bowl in opposition to the New York Giants, and Eli Manning and David Tyree upended their excellent season. It is competitors. The factor about auto racing that is totally different than all the things else is that it is not me in opposition to you, it is me in opposition to 39 different folks within the context of the particular race. And all of these different people are manipulating, when it is “I’ve to race in on factors,” every place issues, every place counts. And so that you’re simply on this fixed, very distinctive, very troublesome mathematical equation.

McGee: Each automotive is a narrative.

Marty: On each lap. Each week. And now it performs out with a championship on the road. Ryan Blaney, proper? I’ll race my means and I’ll win my means. I am gonna go win Martinsville and stamp my means in.

McGee: And Christopher Bell raced his means in. It was outstanding speaking to him after his win and the distinction on this yr and final yr when he made it for the primary time. He was emotional once more after his Homestead win. He admits he was overwhelmed a bit final yr however this yr he is aware of what’s up.

Marty: And Willy B., you stated it. It could have been a disgrace if he had missed out after profitable six races.

McGee: Tops within the sequence and it is not even very shut.

Marty: Two guys who led the sequence in wins in Byron and Larson, a returning man in Bell and form of a celebration crasher in Blaney. We have realized that if you are going to win the championship, you are in all probability going to need to win the race, and all these guys have been good at Phoenix.

McGee: I had my reservations about transferring the finale to Phoenix from Homestead, and plenty of drivers have agreed with me, however these 4 guys all completed within the prime six there again in March. So …

Marty: What I like in regards to the Championship 4 deal is that I do not care who’s in it or the place the race is, you can’t sit again and hope you might have a pleasant race. Hope will not be a plan. You must be aggressive.

McGee: Should.

Marty: Do your finest to run up entrance, make the precise changes, make the precise calls, as a result of that is what all people else goes to do. You must be uber-aggressive to win this title. And that was one thing that I did not count on when it was first devised. I believed there is likely to be slightly extra of a conservative strategy from a few of these guys, however it’s something however. They’re normally working on the entrance all evening.

McGee: Or wrecked out making an attempt. Additionally, it have to be famous that one in all these guys is a hardcore Star Wars man. Blaney is principally a Jedi.

Marty: We have got one Star Wars nerd. We have got a man who realized the way to race automobiles on a online game in Byron. We have got a dash automotive man in Bell, who’s 28 however appears to be like like he is 16. After which we have got Larson, who’s in all probability the best expertise behind the wheel of a racing machine on the planet.

McGee: In a showdown within the desert. Drop the inexperienced, son.