Although Ryan Blaney started Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona from the pole, it ended up taking an insane run through the lead pack in the final laps to get the Team Penske driver into Victory Lane.
The former NASCAR Cup Series champion was sitting 13th when the field crossed the line with two laps remaining, but rocketed to the head of the field while pushing Cole Custer and getting help from Daniel Suarez, both of whom were factors in determining the finishing order (and Playoff field).
After pushing Cole Custer to the race lead exiting Turn 4, Blaney took advantage of a pair of massive blocks by Justin Haley to get position on the outside lane, keeping position as the leader of the outside lane and fending off the pack as they shrieked towards the start-finish line, splitting the No. 12 in a four-wide formation.
At the start-finish line, NASCAR’s Timing and Scoring system had the margin of victory for Blaney at 0.031 seconds over runner-up Daniel Suarez, with Justin Haley in third (0.036 seconds behind) and Cole Custer in four (0.049 seconds behind).
The victory was the second of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign for Blaney, who was the last winner for Ford Performance at Nashville Superspeedway at the beginning of June. The win also marked the 15th for Blaney at NASCAR’s top level.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 NCS Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona
“What a wild last couple of laps, honestly. I was with Cole [Custer], I kind of asked him on the restart, if you go to the top, I’m going with you. We just kind of waited and waited, and then the opportunity came, and he made a good move to get to the top, and we were able to really get good shows.”
The victory also helps boost Blaney to a higher seed in the NASCAR Playoffs re-seeding, which happens following Saturday’s event at Daytona. The additional points also helped him secure second place in the regular-season point standings, thus giving him an additional 10 Playoff Points, on top of the five he earned from winning the race.
Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer, and Erik Jones completed the top-five finishers in Saturday’s event at Daytona, all of whom hadn’t secured a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and were relying on a potential win to save their season.
Kyle Larson brought home a solid sixth-place finish, with Chris Buescher in seventh, Ty Gibbs in eighth, Josh Berry in ninth, and Chase Elliott rounding out the top-10.
Blaney matched teammate Joey Logano with 27 laps led on the afternoon. Logano was in position to battle for the victory, as well, on Saturday, but got involved in an incident in the closing stages of the race, getting spun from the race lead and getting stuck in the infield.
However, the biggest surprise, at least when it comes to the laps led chart for Saturday’s event, is Cody Ware and Rick Ware Racing, who were publicized substantially this week for a pre-race advance the team sent out saying “why not us?”.
Ware was out front for 23 laps, the most in a single NASCAR Cup Series event for RWR and more than the driver had ever led in his entire NASCAR career, combined. However, after getting shuffled back due to a pit road penalty, the No. 51 scored a 20th-place result.
Both Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, without a victory on the season, but to say it came with some stress attached to it, would be an understatement.
Reddick was collected in an early-race wreck with Todd Gilliland that damaged the nose of the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE and derailed his shot at the victory. Bowman, who entered the race 29 points behind Reddick, needed to make up that ground to protect himself from a new winner.
However, Bowman was collected in a Lap 28 accident that started when Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano made contact in the tri-oval, sending the No. 23 Toyota spinning and collecting a total of 12 laps, including Bowman, as well as must-win drivers Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Bowman was left to sweat it out for the remainder of the race, finishing 36th, but when Blaney crossed the line, he could breathe a sigh of relief, having made the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field consists of: William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Josh Berry, Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick, and Alex Bowman.
Darlington Raceway will open up the first round of the post-season, with the race scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 31, 2025, at 6:00 pm ET on USA Network, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
