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Late Charge Propels Ryan Blaney To Daytona Win, Keeps Alex Bowman In Playoffs

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Ryan Blaney

Alex Bowman owes Ryan Blaney a really nice Christmas present. Or something like that.

Without a thrilling last-lap charge by Blaney to win Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, Bowman — winless in 2025 and eliminated in an early-race crash at Daytona — would have fallen off the playoff bubble at the last possible moment.

That’s because the drivers closest to Blaney at the checkered flag — Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer and Erik Jones — were all hunting their first win of the season.

If any of the other top-five finishers end up beating Blaney, which they all had a great shot at doing until the very last second, they make the playoffs and Bowman misses. But thanks to the clutch heroics of Blaney, who had already clinched a playoff berth, Bowman joins teammates William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson as championship contenders next weekend at Darlington Raceway when the playoffs get underway.

As for Blaney, well, the Team Penske driver was simply trying to win the race. Bowman, who competes for Penske rival Hendrick Motorsports, just happened to be the biggest beneficiary of Blaney winning.

“What a wild last couple laps, honestly,” said Blaney, who surged from 13th to first over that brief stretch. “Definitely not a traditional way we like to run. We like to lead laps and couldn’t really get there until the end. But we got there when it mattered.”

Tough Night For Alex Bowman Not Bad Enough To Cost Him Playoff Berth

Eliminated from the race at Daytona in a 12-car Lap 28 crash not of his own making, Alex Bowman could only watch helplessly in the closing laps as Ryan Blaney ultimately emerged victorious.

Although thankful to advance into the playoffs, Bowman was not happy with how his night ended so early. The accident — which took Bowman out of the race — badly damaged his car, leaving him with a DNF and a 36th-place finish.

“There just really wasn’t any way to get around it,” said Bowman, who joined fellow winless driver Tyler Reddick in clinching a playoff berth at Daytona. “All of the hits just sort of compounded too much to be able to fix the car. I hate it for the team. It was all very out of our control.”

At the end of the night, Bowman still had reason to smile, though.

Underdog Contenders Lament Coming Up Short Against Ryan Blaney, Missing Playoffs

Among the most disappointed drivers at Daytona was second-place finisher Daniel Suarez, who is on his way out at Trackhouse Racing at the end of the season. While beating Ryan Blaney would not have changed his lameduck status, it would have meant making the playoffs and finishing his run with Trackhouse on a very positive note.

“We just needed one more spot,” Suarez said. “The team did a great job. We just probably needed to be in position a little bit earlier, but our Chevy was strong. We just lost a little bit of control in the final stage, and that set us behind a little bit. The No. 12 (Blaney) was back there with us at one point. Overall, we had a good car all night. But it was just a little bit too late.”

Chris Buescher came home in seventh but battled for the lead late in the race. And, like Suarez, he appeared to be in position to race his way into the playoffs. How will Buescher, who held the final playoff transfer spot before Austin Dillon’s win last weekend at Richmond, cope with missing the cut?

“Just be mad about it for a while,” the RFK Racing driver said. “We certainly had a shot and had the speed again, so I want to be excited about that. And I am. But, man, we had the ability to win this race, had the speed, had the handling. And no champagne to celebrate.”

Buescher’s RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece, another playoff hopeful running up front in the closing laps, reflected after the race on what might have been.

“I thought we were gonna win that one, because we did everything right today,” said Preece, who got shuffled back to 14th at the end. “It just didn’t work out.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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