In a finish that puts even some of the greatest last laps ever at Daytona to shame, Ryan Blaney won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in incredible fashion, surging ahead on the last lap to beat Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley and Cole Custer as the four leaders crossed the finish line nearly completely four abreast. Blaney, who just nosed ahead as the field entered the trioval for the final time, wound out winning out over Suarez by .031 seconds.
Blaney’s win is his second of the 2025 season, his second in Daytona’s summertime race after also winning in 2021, and it wound up preserving the status quo of the NASCAR playoffs grid. With Blaney’s victory in the regular-season finale denying a potential new winner entry into the playoffs, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman were able to secure the final two seeds in NASCAR’s 16-driver race for the championship.
Blaney had been running 13th with two laps to go when the pack split Ryan Preece and forced him into the middle, creating a sortie that led to a massive amount of momentum for the top groove led by Cole Custer with Blaney pushing. Blaney was able to push Custer to the lead, then capitalized when Custer dove to the inside of Justin Haley going down the backstretch on the final lap, creating an opportunity for Blaney to pass both on the top groove with a push from Daniel Suarez. Blaney then sidedrafted Custer while also covering Suarez up top and Haley in the middle, allowing him to get back to the finish line ahead of all three.
Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Chase Elliott would make up the rest of the top 10.
“What a wild last couple laps, honestly,” Blaney told NBC Sports. “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 shows.
“A couple good guys behind us and then it kind of cleared the way for us when the 7 and 41 got racing, and I was able to clear on the top and just barely hold out for the win. … It’s cool to win here again. I won here a few years ago, and nice to be back.”
Both Reddick and Bowman faced major adversity in their pursuit of playoff spots, with both being involved in crashes early. Disaster appeared to strike early for Reddick, as he suffered extensive front end damage when he nosed into the inside wall after sliding up into Todd Gilliland and sending both cars spinning on the exit of Turn 4. But Bowman’s problems would be far worse: Coming to Lap 28, The Big One struck when Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch all made contact entering the trioval, triggering a multi-car pileup that collected Bowman, ending his night and leaving him helpless as he could only watch to see if a new winner would knock him out of the playoffs.
The range of potential scenarios fluctuated wildly throughout the race, with everyone from regular-season champion William Byron to Cody Ware at 36th in the standings spent time leading laps (Ware, in fact, led a career-high four times for 23 laps). But with Blaney taking the checkered flag, the focus turned from the drama at the cut line to what is now at hand over the final 10 races of the season.
Kyle Larson and William Byron will now begin the Round of 16 tied for the top spot in the playoff standings at 26 points above the cut line, followed by Denny Hamlin (+23), Ryan Blaney (+20), Christopher Bell (+17), Shane van Gisbergen (+16), Chase Elliott (+7), Chase Briscoe (+4), Bubba Wallace (+2), Austin Cindric (+2), Ross Chastain (+1) and Joey Logano (+1) above the cut line. Below the cut line to begin the Round of 16 will be Josh Berry (-1), Tyler Reddick (-1), Austin Dillon (-2) and Alex Bowman (-5).
The playoffs begin next week with the Southern 500 at Darlington, with World Wide Technology Raceway and the Bristol Night Race making up the remaining races in the opening round of the playoffs.
Coke Zero Sugar 400 results
- #12 – Ryan Blaney
- #99 – Daniel Suarez
- #7 – Justin Haley
- #41 – Cole Custer
- #43 – Erik Jones
- #5 – Kyle Larson
- #17 – Chris Buescher
- #54 – Ty Gibbs
- #21 – Josh Berry
- #9 – Chase Elliott
- #34 – Todd Gilliland
- #71 – Michael McDowell
- #20 – Christopher Bell
- #60 – Ryan Preece
- #1 – Ross Chastain
- #88 – Shane van Gisbergen (R)
- #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
- #6 – Brad Keselowski
- #24 – William Byron
- #51 – Cody Ware
- #45 – Tyler Reddick
- #10 – Ty Dillon
- #19 – Chase Briscoe
- #3 – Austin Dillon
- #11 – Denny Hamlin
- #16 – A.J. Allmendinger
- #22 – Joey Logano
- #44 – Joey Gase
- #66 – Casey Mears
- #33 – Austin Hill
- #38 – Zane Smith
- #78 – B.J. McLeod
- #8 – Kyle Busch
- #77 – Carson Hocevar
- #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #48 – Alex Bowman
- #23 – Bubba Wallace
- #4 – Noah Gragson
- #2 – Austin Cindric
- #35 – Riley Herbst (R)
