Ryan Blaney Takes Electric Victory at Daytona; Playoff Field Set

Ryan Blaney has a knack for pulling through in the closing laps at superspeedway tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series. On Saturday night, the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse did it yet again in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the regular season finale, at Daytona International Speedway.

Race Results: Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

With two laps to go, Blaney found himself in the 13th position, but as he latched onto fellow Ford Performance racer Cole Custer's No. 41 Haas Factory Team machine, Blaney shoved Custer through the minefield of race cars. Coming to the white flag, Custer, who emerged as the leader of the third lane at the top of the track, took the race lead.

At this moment, Custer made a move, which disconnected him from Blaney and instead put him into a blockfest with Justin Haley. This is what likely led to Blaney being in a prime position to score the race win. As Custer scratched and clawed for position, Blaney pulled out to the lead. As Blaney crossed the finish line to take the win, Custer would go spinning across the track along with Chris Buescher.

Custer would be credited with a fourth-place finish, as he clipped the finish line just after Daniel Suarez, who rallied to finish runner-up, and Justin Haley, who came home a season-best third.

This win marks the second of the 2025 season for Blaney, and it amounts to the 15th victory of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion's career.

While Blaney was busy celebrating his latest win, Suarez saw his bid to end his farewell season with Trackhouse Racing as a Playoff contender come to an end as he missed victory lane by just 0.031 seconds. It was the same story for Haley, who was just 0.036 seconds shy of his second career victory.

Custer, and Erik Jones came home in fourth and fifth. For Jones, it was a miraculous rally in the last three laps as he was nudged out of line by Kyle Larson on the backstretch with a couple of laps to go, which resulted in him losing his chance at a win.

Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-10 finishers.

With Blaney, who was already locked into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, winning the race, it secured a post season berth for Alex Bowman, who was unsure about his chance at the postseason after he exited the race on Lap 28 as a result of a massive melee on the frontstretch.

Bowman's crash also secured a Playoff berth for Tyler Reddick, who also found trouble early in the race. Reddick crashed in an incident with Todd Gilliland on Lap 18, which caused him to severely damage the front end of his car.

Reddick would salvage a 21st-place finish, and he'll look to find championship form starting next weekend at Darlington.

The 16 drivers, who will compete for the NASCAR Cup Series championship this season include William Byron, Blaney, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Shane van Gisbergen, and Austin Dillon.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the opening race of the three-race Round of 16 of the Playoffs, the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. That race is scheduled for Sunday, August 31. That race will be televised by USA Network with coverage set to kick off at 6:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.

*This story will be updated