Blaney surged to Daytona win despite ‘wingman’ – Sports News
Ryan Blaney pulled back the curtain on the “wingman” strategy he used to fly by means of the sector within the closing laps of the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
On Sunday, Blaney edged out Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley and Cole Custer in a four-wide race to the checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway — marking his second win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series marketing campaign. Since no winless driver coasted down victory lane, Alex Bowman was awarded the sixteenth and ultimate spot within the playoffs.
Speaking to reporters on the heels of the thrilling end, Blaney make clear the selfless strategy that helped him on a late restart. While sitting in thirteenth behind Custer with two laps remaining, he provided to work with the No. 41 Ford driver so long as they jumped over to the third lane.
“It’s just situational stuff. On the restart, I was behind Cole. I told Timmy to tell Cole’s spotter, ‘If you want to jump to the third lane, I’m on board. You’ve got a wingman,’” Blaney defined. “I feel like we would drag other people up. It was big to try to be the first guys up there before it gets log-jammed.”
Blaney remained affected person as Custer confirmed hesitancy to make the transfer. Yet moments later, the highest lane opened as the sector hit the tri-oval, permitting the pair to seamlessly hook up and shoot into turns one and two.
“He never went for a while, and so I never went because I’m like, I’m going to wait on Cole to go. If he wants to go — unless it’s the last lap, then I’m going to jump up there and see what happens,” Blaney stated. “It kind of worked out in a way of the top opened in the tri-oval and we got hooked up at the same time to where we had great speed through 1 and 2 and then got hooked up at the perfect time down the backstretch. I think it was coming to the white. Got hooked up great down the backstretch, and then we were really in the ballgame.”
Once Justin Haley blocked the highest and dropped down on Custer, Blaney assumed control of the surface lane. Thanks to a robust push from Suarez, the 31-year-old managed to sneak up to the entrance of the sector.
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“Got him clear, and Justin blocked the top, which he should have, and then he blocked Cole all the way down and now I’m like, ‘Well, I’m leading the top now,’” Blaney continued. “And Daniel gave me a good push and was able to kind of play the middle top lane to sneak it out.
“Just the situation, it just kind of worked. We took a big run to the top and it was open and no one blocked it, and we were able to just carry big speed, and I thought our cars were really fast. I thought the Fords were super-fast. It was nice it was able to show it a little bit there at the end.”
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