DAYTONA BEACH — Fan favourite Ryan Blaney gained Saturday evening’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 to finish the playoff possibilities for the following three finishers by a automobile size and place the 31-year-old for an additional run at a season title.
A late cost allowed Blaney to move a dozen drivers in the course of the remaining two laps, taking him from the thirteenth spot to Victory Lane for the second time throughout NASCAR’s summer season race at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
“We type of took what was given us,” Blaney mentioned moments after his fifteenth profession Cup Sequence win. “We like to guide laps. We have been in a position to get there on the finish.”
Blaney has skilled his share of heartbreak on the storied monitor, none worse than a second-place completed in the course of the 2020 Daytona 500 to Denny Hamlin amid Ryan Newman’s fiery crash close to the end line.
On heat, nice evening on the Surf Coast, Blaney and his No. 12 Ford left a number of drivers on the altar, edging Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley and Cole Custer by lower than a automobile size in a uncommon and exhilarating four-wide end.
“We simply wanted yet one more spot,” Suarez mentioned.
Erik Jones completed fifth after the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner was well-positioned to seize the checkered flag within the iconic STP No. 43 at Daytona, the place Richard Petty gained 10 instances in an identical-looking automobile.
With a win, Jones and the three finishers in entrance of him may have secured the ultimate spot within the 16-car playoffs, however the two accessible spots as an alternative will go to Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman, who was knocked out of the race early by a 12-car crash.
Blaney’s victory mark the sixth straight top-10 end because the 2023 Cup Sequence champion enters the season’s remaining 10 races. He additionally grew to become the primary pole-sitter to win at Daytona since 2015.
“The crew is doing a very good job of hitting its strides when it wanted to,” he mentioned.
Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Sequence champion, completed sixth as he pushed to safe Hendrick Motorsports teammate Bowman a spot within the playoffs and stop a brand new 2025 winner. A 32-time Cup Sequence winner, Larson has by no means completed within the prime 5 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
“That was fairly loopy there on the finish with all of the automobiles round us who wanted a win to get locked in,” he mentioned.
The biggest crowd for summer season race in seven years, in response to monitor president Frank Kelleher, didn’t have to attend lengthy earlier than the game’s most unpredictable monitor offered drama and the playoff race crystallized.
Reddick locked up one of many two accessible playoff spots when Bowman was caught up in a melee on Lap 28 that left his No. 48 Toyota in disrepair. Reddick entered Saturday evening fifteenth place within the standings, 29 factors forward of Bowman, however a first-time 2025 winner would knock out the one with fewer factors when the race ended.
Bowman, who completed thirty sixth finally, earned the ultimate spot however had many nervous moments as he watched the race on TV and several other winless drivers made late prices.
“We’re in a tricky spot,” he mentioned shortly after the wreck. “Sadly, we’re on the sidelines watching.”
Reddick gave the impression to be in a dangerous spot himself after he wrecked on Lap 19 when Todd Gilliland clipped the left entrance bumper of Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota, sending him into an infield wall. However his pit crew repaired the injury, with the assistance of a substantial quantity of duct tape, to assist him handle a Twenty first-place end.
“It was fairly destroyed,” he mentioned.
The 2024 regular-season champion, Reddick was winless in 2024 however has an opportunity for playoff redemption for the 23XI Racing crew co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin.
“We’ll definitely should be on prime of it each spherical,” Reddick mentioned. “We’re able to it; we simply haven’t achieved it.”
The Massive One which ended Bowman’s bid additionally did in former 500 winners Austin Cindric (2022) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023), together with 63-time Cup Sequence winner Kyle Busch. The 40-year-old two-time season champion continued his struggles at Daytona to overlook the playoffs for the second straight 12 months and has gone 83 begins with a visit to Victory Lane.
Cindric, who gained April 27 at Talladega, was securely within the playoff area. Conversely, Stenhouse — who gained the 2017 summer season race at Daytona and at Talladega in 2024 — wanted some extra superspeedway magic to salvage a season that includes simply three top-10s in 26 begins.
“Simply type of caught within the center,” Cindric mentioned. “You possibly can really feel the depth selecting up there, most likely a bit early. It’s a disgrace.”
The pivotal crash started when Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing, pushed from behind by Larson, nudged Joey Logano to set off the chain of occasions. Wallace’s automobile spun round, slid into the infield after which again onto the monitor, the place his No. 23 Toyota had a head-on collision with Cindric’s No. 2 Ford.
“Every thing was occurring fairly fast there,” mentioned Wallace, who led the race early on. “I hate it. I’ll take the blame for it. Every thing was going too good too early to be all true, so one thing was certain to occur.”
Logano, the reigning Cup Sequence champion, can attest to it. With 13 laps to go, his No. 22 Ford was spun out as he went to dam Jones and misplaced management of his automobile.
Jones quickly led with six laps to go however was nudged out of the draft and fell precipitously out of rivalry earlier than rallying to get within the combine on the finish.
“I hate that it ended the best way that it did,” he mentioned. “We put ourselves in a great spot and all the pieces was going proper to the plan, and we simply acquired out of form. Sadly, fifth tonight doesn’t do a lot for us.”
Edgar Thompson might be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.
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