Ryan Blaney holds off Bowyer to win Stage 2 at Martinsville

Blaney was able to navigate well through lapped traffic, which was the difference in claiming his second stage win of the season and first of his career at a short track.

Kyle Busch was third, Brad Keselowski was fourth and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five.

Also collecting stage points were Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson.

During pit stops between Stages 1 and 2, Blaney was first off pit road and took over the race lead on the restart on Lap 144. He was followed Hamlin and Keselowski.

Blaney and Hamlin spent the next several laps battling side-by-side until Blaney was able to establish some distance between himself and Hamlin on Lap 150.

On Lap 177, Bowyer had moved up to the third position as Blaney and Keselowski continued to hold the top two positions.

By Lap 215, Bowyer had advanced to second, while Kyle Busch had dislodged Keselowski from the third position.

Bowyer caught Blaney on Lap 229 and began his effort to get around him, including nudging his back bumper.

With 30 laps remaining in the stage, Blaney continued to hold about a half-second lead over Bowyer.

With 10 laps remaining in the stage, Bowyer was keeping pace with Blaney as Blaney deftly dealt with lapped traffic. Only 15 cars remained on the lead lap at this point.