Daytona Beach, Fla. — Ryan Blaney surged from 12th place with three laps remaining to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 23, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway, crossing the finish line 0.031 seconds ahead of Daniel Suarez in a four-wide photo finish. The victory, Blaney’s second of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season and his 15th career win, secured the final playoff berth for Alex Bowman on points and earned Blaney 10 additional playoff points by vaulting him to second in the regular-season standings.
Justin Haley finished third, 0.036 seconds behind Blaney, while Cole Custer placed fourth, 0.049 seconds back. A win by Suarez, Haley or Custer would have eliminated Bowman from the 16-driver playoff field, but Blaney’s triumph preserved the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver’s postseason eligibility. The race, the final regular-season event, featured 44 lead changes among 19 drivers and eight cautions for 39 laps, with an average speed of 130.909 mph over three hours, three minutes and 20 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 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.”
Blaney, driving the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, led four times for 27 laps, tying teammate Joey Logano for the race high. Logano led six times for 27 laps but spun with 11 laps left, triggering a caution and finishing 27th after running upfront much of the final stage. The Blaney Daytona win marked the first for a Ford since Blaney’s triumph at Nashville Superspeedway on June 1, 2025, and his second at Daytona’s summer race, following a 2021 victory.
Bowman’s playoff hopes hinged on the outcome after he was eliminated early in a 12-car crash on Lap 27, triggered by contact involving Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch on the frontstretch. The incident also ended playoff chances for Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished 33rd and 35th, respectively. Tyler Reddick, who entered 29 points ahead of Bowman, clinched his spot with Bowman’s exit despite finishing 21st after an earlier Lap 18 wreck with Todd Gilliland.
“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.”
For Bowman, who watched the remainder from the sidelines, the Blaney Daytona win proved decisive. “It was all very out of our control,” Bowman said. “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.” Bowman later joked he owed Blaney “seven million beers” for the save, to which Blaney replied he’d settle for five million.
Erik Jones finished fifth, followed by Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Chase Elliott. Larson won Stage 1, while Ross Chastain claimed Stage 2 before ending 15th. The Blaney Daytona win boosted him to fourth in playoff seeding with 15 bonus points, behind regular-season champion William Byron (15 wins, 28 points), Larson (six wins, 20 points) and Tyler Reddick (three wins, 15 points).
The 10-race playoffs begin August 31, 2025, with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, airing at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network, Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The field includes Byron, Blaney, Larson, Reddick, Elliott, Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Bowman.
Blaney’s charge came when Custer shifted lanes to block Haley, allowing Blaney’s momentum to prevail in the tri-oval. The Blaney Daytona win underscores Team Penske’s strength, with Blaney noting consistent performance despite earlier crashes. “I think it speaks volumes to how good we have been when we’ve finished races,” Blaney said.
The race highlighted superspeedway unpredictability, with early wrecks reshaping the field. Gilliland’s Lap 18 spin collected Reddick, briefly aiding Bowman before his own incident. Blaney started from the pole after qualifying was canceled due to lightning, the first pole win at Daytona since 2015.
NASCAR’s 2025 season has seen 14 unique winners through 26 races, with Chevrolet claiming 12 victories, Ford five and Toyota nine. The Blaney Daytona win positions Penske for a potential third straight title in the Next Gen era, following Blaney’s 2023 and Logano’s 2022 championships.
Fan reactions emphasized the excitement, with social media praising the four-wide finish as a fitting regular-season closer. The Blaney Daytona win also sets up intriguing playoff matchups, including rematches against strong contenders like Larson and Byron.
As the series shifts to elimination rounds, procedural steps include three races per round, with the bottom four drivers cut after each until four remain for the championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 9, 2025. Bonus points from regular-season finishes and stage wins carry forward, influencing strategies.
The Blaney Daytona win not only locked the playoff grid but highlighted the series’ competitive balance, with no clear favorite entering Darlington. For Blaney, the momentum could prove pivotal in defending his title.
