NASCAR
Blaney Comes From Nowhere to Take Second Coke Zero Sugar 400
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Is there a new Pied Piper of Daytona? Superspeedway ace Ryan Blaney came in clutch with an unbelievable last two laps to clinch the Coke Zero Sugar 400. When the pack roared by the flagstand with two laps left, the Penske No. 12 was in 13th. Jostling up front among many desperate drivers gave Blaney enough of a run to take the lead on the last lap with a bold three-wide outside pass. The 2023 Cup champion now enters 2025’s Playoffs with a pair of wins this year and as the sixth seed.
Intensity was high from the opening laps, with Playoff bubble drivers Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman both involved in separate incidents by lap 30. The opening Stage would go to Kyle Larson following these two pauses, and a much calmer Stage 2 went to Ross Chastain.
Late in Stage 3 saw Joey Logano shuffle his way back to the point and begin blocking like crazy. No drive was able to remain ahead of the 22 until Logano hooked himself off of Erik Jones’ nose with 13 laps left.
Logano’s misfortunes opened up a mad dash up front between many Playoff hopefuls. Jones, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece, and Cole Custer all led across the final seven laps. Custer’s No. 41 Ford was out front at the white flag, only for a hard charging Ryan Blaney to pick up steam down the backstretch. Coming to the line, the leaders were four-wide with Blaney ahead by a slim 0.03 seconds.
“What a wild last couple laps, honestly,” Blaney said. “I was with Cole, I kind of asked him on the restart, if you go to the top I’m going with you. We kind of just 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.”
“A couple good guys behind us and then it kind of cleared the way for us when the 7 and 41 got racing and I was able to clear on the top and just barely hold out for the win.”
“Everybody, thanks for coming. This is so cool. Awesome crowd tonight, awesome night, and really appreciate Advance Auto Parts, Menards, Ford, Roush Yates Engines, DEX Imaging, Wabash, the Worth Group, BODY ARMOR for everything they do. It’s so cool to have Advance Auto Parts in Victory Lane. Shane, the CEO, is here, so I can’t wait to see him.”
“I think we kind of just took what was given to us. Kind of how we played Stage 1, had to take a lot of gas in Stage 2, and I wasn’t going to make any ground so I went into max fuel save mode to where I could go a little bit earlier than other guys.”
“Definitely not a traditional way we like to run, we like to lead laps, and couldn’t really get there until the end but got there when it mattered. It’s cool to win here again. I won here a few years ago, and nice to be back.”
The four-wide photo finish saw Blaney eek out just past Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, and Cole Custer. Watching the finish unfold from fifth was Erik Jones. He just beat out Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, and Chase Elliott. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
By virtue of Blaney being a repeat winner, the Playoff picture remains unchanged between Reddick and Bowman. These two contenders are now the last of the 16 men to compete for the 2025 Bill France Cup.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs will hit the ground running next week with the Cook Out Southern 500. The Crown Jewel’s green flag will fly Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The grandaddy of them all from Darlington Raceway may send its winner onto the Round of 12.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
