Ryan Blaney wins Coke Zero Sugar 400

For the second-consecutive weekend Ryan Blaney celebrated a NASCAR Cup Series race win, this time following the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, the final race of the 2021 regular season. Blaney’s latest win was his third of the season.

“Got good momentum,” Blaney said. “Nice to make it three in a row. We’ll see.”

Chris Buescher was second to the checkered flag but was disqualified when his car failed post-race inspection. Instead, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. was credited with second, Ryan Newman third, Ryan Preece fourth and Tyler Reddick fifth after an overtime restart and a large last-lap crash that resulted in the race ending under yellow. Buescher was the leader for the final restart, but when the race returned to green, Blaney took the lead.

“it was wild. We missed that big one, barely,” Blaney said. “I don’t know how we missed it, and then, we got a restart on the front row and it was kind of a drag race.  I’m really thankful to [Corey] LaJoie, who gave me a really good push, and we were able to get clear on the restart, so I appreciate the push from him. 

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“I was having to hold off the 4 [Kevin Harvick] and the 17[Buescher] and the 7[LaJoie], and I didn’t really know which lane to go with down the back, so I kind of picked the middle and I kind of committed to the bottom, and I guess some people got turned, but what a couple of cool weeks, that’s for sure.  It was a very eventful race.  It’s so cool to be here in victory lane in Daytona.  Maybe we’re on a roll right now and we’ve got everything going our way.  Hopefully, we keep it up.”

One playoff berth remained up for grabs heading into Saturday night’s race with Richard Childress Racing teammates Reddick and Austin Dillon the top contenders to claim the coveted spot by virtue of points. Reddick overcame damage from involvement in a crash with about 15 laps remaining for his top-five finish to take the final playoff spot.

“It feels incredible to be in the NASCAR playoffs,” Reddick said. “My emotions were shot as soon as we took the green on the last green-white-checkered. I can’t even believe that we finished sixth [before Buescher’s disqualification]. It was a lot coming through that last crash at the line and to make the playoffs is a proud accomplish for our Richard Childress Racing team.

“I’ve gone to Homestead-Miami a couple times to race for a championship, which was a lot of fun and nerve wracking, but it is a rollercoaster to come to Daytona on the bubble. I almost felt helpless there when I ran into the back of someone and had all the issues we did coming to the checkered. Our Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen team never gave up and we made it through all the challenges. We are going to enjoy this moment, but the real work starts now. I can’t wait to get to Darlington next week and start the Round of 16.”

Dillon notched points in each of the first two stages before he was assessed a pit-road speeding penalty during a caution with 20 laps remaining and an electrical issue that led to a battery change during the next caution. 

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson finished the race 20^th  to Denny Hamlin’s 13^th but bettered Hamlin in points through the 26-race regular season to claim the regular-season title.

“Our team has worked so hard all of the regular season,” Larson said. “I couldn’t do it without Mr. Hendrick and Linda and all of their support. Everybody back at the shop, too. This is a long season and we still have 10 races to go. It’s a long point to get here and it’s just a big hats off to everybody at the shop. HendrickCars.com, Valvoline, Tarlton and Son, everybody who’s been on board to help us out this year.”

William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Blaney and Ross Chastain led laps early in the third and final stage that began after lap 100 before the contingent of Ford drivers pitted under green just inside the final 40 laps. Chevrolet and Toyota drivers stayed out longer, though, and got the chance to pit under caution 20 laps later.

Once the Toyota and Chevrolet drivers pitted under the yellow, the Fords were up front with Joey Logano in the race lead. Buescher also led laps before Elliott took the position and Matt DiBenedetto second with six laps remaining. The crash that sent the race into overtime resulted from the two frontrunners making contact battling for the top spot.

Elliott won the opening 50-lap stage after taking the lead just before a lap-20 competition caution. With debris on his grille, Elliott gave up the lead in the final 10 laps of the stage. Logano took a brief lead, but Elliott quickly retook the top position.

Two of Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Larson and Byron, were the official front-row starters for the race, but pole sitter Larson had to drop to the back for the initial green flag because of an issue getting through pre-race inspection. Byron led most of the early laps of the race. Hamlin, Harvick and Dillon also led laps before the first caution.

Logano won the second stage at lap 100 after a late-stage challenge from Team Penske teammate Blaney and after he was penalized for a pit crew member throwing equipment during a pit stop after the first stage.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell combined to lead most of the first half of the second stage, with Truex taking the lead on the restart to begin the the stage. Bell took the lead from his teammate just before the halfway point of the second 50-lap stage.

Logano took the top spot just before a caution near the halfway point of the race. That yellow flag was the first  caution for an on-track incident that began when Corey LaJoie checked up and Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman spun behind him.

Other top-10 finishers included Justin Haley in sixth, Bowman in seventh, Elliott eighth,  B.J. McLeod in ninth, and Josh Bilicki in 10^th.