Blaney looking to carry ‘momentum’ into playoffs – Sports News
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney pulled off a outstanding comeback win at Daytona on Saturday evening, climbing from thirteenth to declare the victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 within the ultimate two laps.
The 31-year-old former NASCAR Cup Series champion sliced his approach by means of the frontrunners within the remaining laps underneath the lights at Daytona, in the end main the way in which in a four-wide end in Florida, beating Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, and Cole Custer to the checkered flag within the common season finale.
Once the mud had settled on Blaney’s second win of the season, following his triumphant run at Nashville Superspeedway in June, he took to social media to congratulate his staff on its efforts forward of the Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway on Saturday.
“The 12 Crew has shown maximum effort all season, and I couldn’t be prouder of this group,” Blaney wrote. “Those final laps were wild, but we held strong and now carry great momentum into the Playoffs.”
Blaney’s win got here after he certified on pole by way of NASCAR’s efficiency metrics, with qualifying having been canceled due to lightning on Friday. He went on to drop to third by the tip of Stage One and sixth in Stage Two, earlier than having to climb back up the pecking order within the remaining laps.
“We kind of just played the hand we were dealt,” Blaney defined on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “With leading the first stage and starting on the pole, we had to burn a bunch of gas. So we knew we were going to take more of the stop.
“So we just came in at the one to go and took more gas, and just like went into full fuel save mode. If we had a green flag stop, then I could maybe jump kind of back to where I need to be,” he added.
“So, it was just a product of having to take a bunch of gas and understanding that that’s what we needed to do. And even like the start a stage three, we stayed out the whole second stage. I didn’t pit. So that really made us have to fill it in at the end.
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“Jonathan [Hassler] (crew chief) did a good job of understanding the spot we were in, keeping me informed of what his plan was, what the new plans were. And then getting the green light to go at the end paid off.”
Blaney additionally famous that in races reminiscent of these, “You never know how they’re going to play out.”
“And gosh, I’ve ended on the wrecker here so many times, more times than I can count. And tonight it was one of those things where everything just kind of flowed correctly for us, and we were able to just kind of make moves that made sense and especially at the end. It just worked out, and it’s nice to be back and look forward to starting the Playoffs next week.”
Blaney’s playoff battle will start at Darlington on Sunday, with Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick having secured the ultimate two spots within the area of 16 difficult for the crown.
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