Ryan Blaney’s Victory at Daytona Keeps Alex Bowman in the Title Chase

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August 23, 2025

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Not that a rescue mission was top of mind for Ryan Blaney, but his dramatic victory in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway saved Alex Bowman from Playoff oblivion.

Blaney rocketed forward from 12th in the running order with three laps left in the final NASCAR Cup Series regular-season race and crossed the finish line 0.031 seconds ahead of runner-up Daniel Suarez.

Justin Haley was 0.036 seconds behind Blaney in a three-wide photo finish for second place, with Cole Custer, who led the next-to-last lap, 0.049 seconds back in fourth.

A victory by Suarez, Haley or Custer would have eliminated Bowman from the Playoffs. Instead, the driver of the No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet earned the 16th and final postseason berth on points.

Blaney’s second win of the season, his second at Daytona and 15th of his career vaulted the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford into second place in the regular-season standings, earning him a bonus of 10 Playoff points.

The victory was the first for a Ford driver since Blaney triumphed at Nashville Superspeedway on June 1.

“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 shoves.

“A couple good guys behind us, and then it kind of cleared the way for us when the 7 (Haley) and 41 (Custer) got racing, and I was able to clear on the top and just barely hold out for the win.”

In fact, Blaney got the opportunity he needed when Custer moved off the top lane to block Haley’s strong run. At that point, Blaney had enough momentum to carry him to the finish line with roughly a half-car-length to spare.

In a race that featured 44 lead changes among 19 drivers, Blaney and teammate Joey Logano each led 27 laps. Logano spent much of the final stage out front before spinning in front of Erik Jones with 11 laps left.

Jones finished fifth, followed by Stage 1 winner Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Chase Elliott. Ross Chastain won the second stage before finishing 15th.

For Bowman, a window of opportunity in the early going opened and shut in short order. On Lap 18, Todd Gilliland lost control from the middle lane and took the Toyota of Tyler Reddick with him.

Reddick nosed into the inside wall but and able to continue after repairs, but the accident gave Bowman hope of overcoming his 29-point deficit to the 23XI driver and locking into the Playoffs.

That hope was short-lived. On Lap 27, Bowman was collected in a 12-car pileup on the frontstretch triggered by chain reaction contact between Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.

“Everything was happening pretty quick there,” Wallace said. “The hit from the 5 (Larson) shoved me down there, and it was like I got shoved up by the 22 (Logano) and the 12 (Blaney) moved up. He was trying to just move up and take the lane. But, oh well. I hate it. 20th or 22nd to the lead in a short amount of time…

“All in all, we’re locked in (the Playoffs), and we’ll get focused for Darlington.”

The wreck knocked Bowman out of the race and out of contention for a Playoff berth on points, as Reddick clinched with Bowman’s exit. Busch’s last hope for the postseason also ended in the garage, as did that of formidable superspeedway racer Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“It was all very out of our control,” said Bowman, who had to watch the rest of race from the sidelines and hope no new winner would oust him from the Playoffs. “I hate that we tanked so bad the first run.

“The bottom lane just fell apart behind us. We had to overcome that, but we had gotten back to the back side of the top 10. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.”

What did work out was Blaney’s victory, which kept Bowman’s championship aspirations alive. He joins Hendrick teammates William Byron (the Regular Season Champion), Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott in the Playoffs.

With the field of 16 drivers set, the 10-race Playoffs will begin on Aug. 31 at Darlington Raceway in the Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR Cup Series Race – Coke Zero Sugar 400

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona Beach, Florida

Saturday, August 23, 2025

(1) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 160.
(12) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 160.
(37) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 160.
(29) Cole Custer, Ford, 160.
(26) Erik Jones, Toyota, 160.
(3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 160.
(24) Chris Buescher, Ford, 160.
(18) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 160.
(11) Josh Berry, Ford, 160.
(30) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 160.
(28) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 160.
(20) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 160.
(15) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 160.
(31) Ryan Preece, Ford, 160.
(19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 160.
(17) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 160.
(34) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 160.
(10) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 160.
(8) William Byron, Chevrolet, 160.
(35) Cody Ware, Ford, 160.
(27) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 160.
(23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.
(9) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 160.
(7) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 160.
(6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 160.
(21) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 159.
(4) Joey Logano, Ford, 159.
(40) Joey Gase(i), Chevrolet, 157.
(39) Casey Mears, Ford, 156.
(36) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 155.
(13) Zane Smith, Ford, 154.
(38) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 137.
(14) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 95.
(16) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Engine, 81.
(25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 28.
(2) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Accident, 27.
(22) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 27.
(32) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 27.
(5) Austin Cindric, Ford, Accident, 27.
(33) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, Accident, 27.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 130.909 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 20 Secs. Margin of Victory: .031 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 39 laps.

Lead Changes: 44 among 19 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Blaney 1-23;*. Wallace 24;D. Suarez 25-30;R. Blaney 31-32;M. McDowell 33;R. Blaney 34;K. Larson 35-37;R. Chastain 38;C. Ware 39-55;T. Dillon 56-64;R. Chastain 65-66;S. Gisbergen # 67-69;M. McDowell 70;S. Gisbergen # 71-72;M. McDowell 73;C. Ware 74-75;J. Logano 76;C. Ware 77-78;C. Briscoe 79;C. Custer 80-84;W. Byron 85-89;J. Logano 90;C. Briscoe 91-93;J. Logano 94;R. Chastain 95-98;C. Custer 99;C. Bell 100-101;J. Nemechek 102;C. Bell 103-104;J. Nemechek 105-110;S. Gisbergen # 111;C. Ware 112-113;A. Dillon 114-117;J. Logano 118-134;C. Briscoe 135-136;J. Logano 137-141;E. Jones 142-145;J. Logano 146-147;E. Jones 148-152;J. Haley 153;E. Jones 154;R. Preece 155-157;J. Haley 158;C. Custer 159;R. Blaney 160.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ryan Blaney 4 times for 27 laps; Joey Logano 6 times for 27 laps; Cody Ware 4 times for 23 laps; Erik Jones 3 times for 10 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 9 laps; Ross Chastain 3 times for 7 laps; Cole Custer 3 times for 7 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 2 times for 7 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen # 3 times for 6 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 6 laps; Chase Briscoe 3 times for 6 laps; William Byron 1 time for 5 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 4 laps; Christopher Bell 2 times for 4 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 3 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 3 laps; Michael McDowell 3 times for 3 laps; Justin Haley 2 times for 2 laps; * Bubba Wallace 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,1,12,71,7,22,34,60,19,20

Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,20,22,42,24,19,12,60,54,5