William Byron led 362 laps at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, and plenty of NASCAR fans watching at home called it one of the dullest races of the year.

Byron won the Xfinity 500, his first victory of the season and his first in 36 races, which included a win at Martinsville last fall. His No. 24 Chevrolet took the lead for good with 74 laps to go after green-flag stops, passing Chase Briscoe, and he collected the maximum 76 points.

He led more laps in this one race than he had in the previous 34 races combined, and it was his 17th career Cup win and fourth Martinsville grandfather clock. Chase Elliott finished second, followed by Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Shane van Gisbergen.

The race did little for the championship. Kyle Larson, who was in position to clinch the title with a big day, finished ninth and did not score stage points because his team stayed out in the first stage, a gamble that backfired. To clinch Sunday, he needed to leave Martinsville 77 points ahead of the other contenders.

He instead heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway with a 67-point lead over Christopher Bell and a 70-point lead over Denny Hamlin, who are the only other drivers still alive. Bell and Hamlin would need to win next week and hope Larson has a disastrous day.

Fans were not kind about what they saw. "Overall extremely boring race. Not surprised. This sport is going to slowly fade away I feel," one wrote.

Another wrote, "what a boring race that's 4 hrs I wasted." A third argued that Martinsville does not belong in the Chase at all. "Another boring Martinsville race. No need to have this in the Chase. Get the season over earlier," the fan wrote.

The complaints centered on a championship that looked decided with one race left, and on a race led by one driver for most of the day who was not in the title picture.

There was plenty of contact and frustration behind the leader, though. Ryan Blaney was eliminated from title contention on lap 253 after twice running into the rear of Berry's car and then spinning.

Blaney said afterward that Berry brake-checked him. "Berry decided to slam on the brakes and end our day," Blaney said. "Don't really know why after a tiny little bit of contact, not even on purpose."

Austin Cindric retired after Carson Hocevar brake-checked him multiple times, and Cindric said on the radio, "NASCAR, what are we doing? Like, we're just weaponizing cars here." Bell was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road and then spun with Hamlin after contact from Joey Logano.

Hamlin, who started on the pole and has six Martinsville wins, said the first stage hurt. "Once we lost our track position, it's hard to drive back to the front," Hamlin said.