Ryan Blaney's most heartbreaking Daytona 500 losses

In just 11 Daytona 500 starts, Ryan Blaney has already figured out several heartbreaking ways to lose the "Great American Race."

The 2023 Cup Series champion and 17-time NASCAR Cup Series winner will make his 12th start in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15. Here are his four most heartbreaking Daytona 500 losses. 

2017: Runner-up to a Hall of Famer

In a race that saw Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson all run out of gas while leading in the final two laps, Blaney was the benefactor. He drove his way to second on the final lap and was right behind race leader Kurt Busch, but Busch had enough gas to finish the race and took the checkered flag, leaving Blaney one spot shy of what would've been an incredible first Cup Series win.

2022: Blocked out of Victory Lane

In the first race with NASCAR's Next-Gen car, the Team Penske Fords were fast. Blaney started seventh and led 36 laps. 

On the final lap of the race, Blaney, with a big push from Bubba Wallace, had a chance to overtake leader Austin Cindric in the race's final thousand feet. But Cindric threw an aggressive block on his Penske teammate, sending Blaney into the wall and starting a crash that left Blaney with nothing but a torn-up car and a broken heart.

2025: An empty top-10 finish 

A similar story arose in 2025: all three Penske Fords were incredibly fast, combining to lead 125 laps. Blaney led 23 of those and won Stage 2 before he was involved in a late crash. 

To his credit, Blaney rallied for a seventh-place finish. But it was a rather hollow start to his 2025 campaign that could've ended with confetti and champagne.

2020: Missed it by that much

Given that Ryan Newman flew through the air and was sent to the hospital after a horrifying last-lap crash in the 2020 Daytona 500, the incredible photo finish between Blaney and Denny Hamlin was overshadowed. 

But it was one of the more heartbreaking losses in recent 500 history, as Hamlin, who had won the race twice before, edged Blaney at the line by 0.014 seconds in a loss that one day could haunt Blaney forever if he's unable to win a Daytona 500.