Ryan Blaney Wins in Four-Wide Finish to Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

Ryan Blaney played the role of spoiler on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, charging from 13th to first in the final two laps to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

Race Results: NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

With a plethora of drivers seeking their first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series in the regular season finale, Blaney surged ahead in a four-wide fight to the finish to deny their playoff advances. Blaney crossed the line 0.031 seconds ahead of runner-up Daniel Suarez.

Initially, Blaney was positioned to push Cole Custer to the front on the outside lane in the closing laps. However, as Custer jockeyed with Justin Haley down the backstretch for the lead, that opened the door for Blaney to jump out front.

"What a wild last couple of laps, honestly," said Blaney. "I was with Cole [Custer], 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 me. The 7 and 41 got racing, and I was able to clear on the top and just barely hold out for the win."

While Blaney tied for the most laps led in the race with 27, it was anything but a runaway victory for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion. After starting on the pole due to the metric following the cancellation of qualifying, Blaney led 26 of the race's first 34 laps.

He wouldn't lead again until the final lap of the race.

"I think we kind of just took what was given to us," said Blaney. "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 just really went into max fuel save mode to where maybe I could go a little bit earlier than other guys.

"Definitely not the traditional way we like to run them. We like to lead laps and things like that, and couldn’t really get there until the end. We got there when it mattered. It’s cool to win here again. I won here a few years ago, and nice to be back."

While Blaney celebrated his victory, those who came up short of the checkered flag wondered what might have been.

"I feel like we didn't set ourselves up as good as we wanted to be," said Suarez after finishing second. "That's not an excuse. The 12 was back there with us, and he was able to make it to the front. I'm proud of the effort. It's definitely the fastest superspeedway car I've had in a few years.

"Our playoff run ends here, but I'm very positive we're going to be in victory lane here very soon."

"Obviously got shaken up there when, I think the 5 put whoever it was three-wide," said Haley. "I got too far out in front. I tried to save it, but at the end of the day, I just got too far out front. It hurts. Especially with the year the 7 car has had, we've obviously had a rough season. You're counting them down and just trying to play everything out."

After a multi-car incident through the tri-oval early in the evening, Alex Bowman's playoff hopes hung by a thread. Out of the race after just 27 laps, the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 would have been eliminated from postseason contention with a first-time winner.

Instead, Blaney's victory allowed both Bowman and Tyler Reddick to advance via points into the field of 16, alongside the 14 race-winners during the first 26 races of the season.

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin with Kyle Larson and William Byron tied atop the standings following the reset. Josh Berry, Reddick, Austin Dillon and Bowman start below the cutoff for the Round of 12 to open the playoff push.

The first race of the Round of 16 will be the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, August 31. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on the USA Network, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-Photo credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images