Cup Series: Blaney wins Regular Season finale in Daytona

Sean McKean
11 hours ago
6 min read

Written by Sean McKean

With many winless drivers hungry for wins around him, Ryan Blaney outlasted the rest to take his second win of the season at Daytona. It was also his second victory at the Florida track.

As it unfolded

After a cancelled qualifying session, Ryan Blaney led the way from pole with Alex Bowman alongside. Blaney connected with teammate Joey Logano to lead the single-file line up front.

Upon completion of the first lap, Regular Season Champion, William Byron, pulled into pit road for a drive-through penalty following a pre-race infraction.

The first caution occurred on Lap 9, when Casey Mears’ right-rear tyre went down, resulting in him going for a spin in Turn 4. He drove away from the accident but sustained minor damage.

A sizable group of cars came down pit road – mainly playoff bubble drivers, such as Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs. Of this bunch, Todd Gilliland came out first.

The race restarted on Lap 16, with Blaney and Daniel Suarez leading the way. Logano and Brad Keselowski connected nicely to get Blaney into a decisive lead.

Huge playoff implications happened on Lap 19. Coming off Turn 4, Tyler Reddick drifted up and spun both he and Todd Gilliland out. This sent both of them into the inside wall, with Reddick sustaining the most damage.

A solid amount of cars came down pit road, with Chase Elliott coming out first of this bunch.

Blaney restarted as leader on Lap 24 with Bubba Wallace alongside. This time, however, the inside line had help and thus allowed Wallace to take the lead.

Only four laps later, another big crash with playoff implications took place. Trying to block in the tri-oval, Bubba Wallace wasn’t quite clear on Joey Logano – sending him into a spin up the pack and collecting eight cars. Of this bunch was Alex Bowman, who sustained major damage and went out of the race. This allowed Tyler Reddick to lock his way into the playoffs on points, even despite his earlier struggles.

A few of the leaders came down pit road, such as Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher.

Blaney and Michael McDowell led the way on Lap 34 with two laps remaining in the stage. And although drivers behind battled hard, Kyle Larson managed to get by Blaney for stage win whilst Ross Chastain snuck through for second.

Stage 1 Results:

No. 5 - Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 1 - Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing)
No. 12 - Ryan Blaney (Team Penske)
No. 71 - Michael McDowell (Spire Motorsports)
No. 7 - Justin Haley (Spire Motorsports)
No. 22 - Joey Logano (Team Penske)
No. 34 - Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports)
No. 60 - Ryan Preece (RFK Racing)
No. 19 - Chase Briscoe (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 20 - Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing)

Nearly everyone came down pit road during the stage break. The first three out were Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and John Hunter Nemechek. Cody Ware stayed out.

Ware led the field to the green on Lap 42. Nemechek drew alongside to lead the high line.

After the Fords broke up on the outside, Ty Dillon took the lead on Lap 57. But after a mistimed block, it disorganized the pack, and then started an over 20-lap jockeying for position amongst the top 20.

Pit cycles began on Lap 81, but in the midst of this, the caution came out for Carson Hocevar – with his engine blowing up.

Chase Elliott and Byron led the way on Lap 88, and jostling for position immediately began with the stage nearing its end. Come stage’s end, Ross Chastain held on followed by Christopher Bell and Logano.

Stage 2 Results:

No. 1 - Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing)
No. 20 - Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 22 - Joey Logano (Team Penske)
No. 24 - William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 42 - John Hunter Nemechek (Legacy Motor Club)
No. 12 - Ryan Blaney (Team Penske)
No. 19 - Chase Briscoe (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 60 - Ryan Preece (RFK Racing)
No. 54 - Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 5 - Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)

Everyone came down pit road. Christopher Bell came out first followed by Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece.

Bell led the field away to begin the final stage of the Regular Season alongside Nemechek on Lap 102.

Shortly after the restart, Casey Mears lost another right-front tyre going into Turn 2 and hit the wall slightly. He drove away unscathed, and the green flag remained out.

The caution came back out on Lap 108. Having suffered a tyre failure in the tri-oval, Denny Hamlin hit the outside wall and thus broke the steering column. With his car unable to steer and still on the racing surface, the caution had to be thrown.

Many drivers came to the pits for a fuel-only stop with seven drivers staying out. Nemechek came out first.

A bunch of cars also came down pit road again, including Nemechek, Ross Chastain and Cody Ware.

Austin Dillon led the field back with 45 laps remaining. They rode around safely for around seven laps, but after that, the field began to amp up the aggression.

With 29 laps remaining, BJ McLeod sustained a right-front tyre failure and went into the wall in Turn 1. Despite his car moving slow on the race track, the green flag remained out.

Another issue befell a mid-pack driver with 16 laps to go, as AJ Allmendinger’s car suffered an engine failure. After crawling back to the pits, the green flag remained out.

Huge issues for the leader happened with 12 laps to go, with Joey Logano spinning on the frontstretch off the bumper of Erik Jones. Logano fell one lap down after getting stuck in the grass.

Only a few drivers came down pit road, notably Chase Briscoe and Austin Dillon.

Erik Jones and Justin Haley headed the field with eight laps remaining in the Regular Season finale. Despite battling up front, Jones quickly got shuffled out of the pack from Kyle Larson behind. This left the race between Haley and Ryan Preece.

And with a dramatic run to the line that saw Cole Custer take the lead on the white flag, Ryan Blaney secured his second win of the season.

Provisional Results: