Ryan Blaney began 2024 on a mixed note. The defending Cup Series champion fended off the intense challenges from teammate Austin Cindric and a resurgent Kyle Busch to claim some invaluable stage points with a stage 2 win at the 2024 Daytona 500. Having to find a way out of the ultra-contested three-wide lead in the final laps of the second stage was a daunting task for the 30-year-old.

Team Penske surprised Blaney with an early pit stop in the first stage, despite not having burned much of his fuel. However, the strategy has paid dividends as the No. 12 Ford driver managed to take over the lead from Cindric. No. 22 Ford driver Joey Logano also took the lead for a fair amount of time and had to battle for it with Todd Gilliland. Entering stage 3, a four-tire pit stop greatly benefitted the No. 12 team but a violent crash with 8 laps to go in the race ruined his momentum.

‘The Big One’ ends Team Penske and Ryan Blaney’s hopes of the Daytona 500 win

Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano showcased their off-season preparation on the track as the Ford cars dominated for a long period in the race. With Logano starting on the pole, he used timely pit-stops to use fuel efficiently and fought for the lead in every stage. Ryan Blaney had to toil harder with Kyle Busch hot on his heels. However, their teammate Austin Cindric was also one of the standout performers in the race.

Having competed for the win until the end, Cindric went out in an unlucky manner. But that was not as unfortunate as Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano on the 192nd lap. With Ross Chastain in the lead, Alex Bowman‘s car grazed his teammate William Byron‘s #24 Chevy. This pushed him onto Keselowski and the conundrum unfolded with Joey Logano and 17 other drivers being collected.

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Ryan Blaney was hoping to move away from the traffic on the inside line. However, with all the lanes blocked and debris flying after the crash, most of the cars involved in it were precisely unfortunate. While Austin Cindric survived the multi-car crash and went ahead to battle with Ross Chastain on the restart, ultimately it was the two cars that started the crash, the #48 and the #24 that ensured a 1-2 finish.

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Speaking in the post-race press conference, Ryan Blaney also revealed that he had sensed a crash with the cars beating against each other in a compact formation. On the same note, he also claimed that the crash wasn’t as bad as the one in the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel.

Blaney claims big crashes are a part of the Daytona 500

Year after year, Daytona 500s have witnessed such crashes. Even in the previous race at the venue, the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400, Ryan Preece endured one of the most horrific crashes in NASCAR history. Coincidentally, Ryan Blaney was also one of the drivers to be eliminated from the race in that crash. Having seen his fair share of violent incidents at the superspeedway, Blaney explained that the Daytona 500 can get dangerous in the final laps.

“Yeah. I mean, there’s 10 to go in the 500. I didn’t think the 24’s push, from the replay I saw, it didn’t look bad,” claimed Blaney. “It looked like he just kind of got squirrely and then when he tried to get back to him he was kind of on the quarter, like a weird side of his bumper, but I can’t believe we didn’t wreck before that.”

“I thought we were all going to because we were all shoving hard and stuff like that. It stinks, but I’m not as bad compared to the other night, so that’s good.”

Blaney had come into the race with a backup car. For him, the Daytona 500 was a deja vu of the second Duel where Keselowski and Kyle Busch’s contact triggered another multi-car wreck that ruined his first-choice car. Considering the No.12 team’s hesitation to consume fuel at a higher rate compared to others, Ryan Blaney did well to take over the lead for brief periods. With encouraging pace in the arsenal, his luck and finishing position could improve in the coming races.

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