Ryan Blaney gave it all that he had at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, driving to a fifth-place run. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
DARLINGTON, S.C. — The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford had seemed to wipe off the unlucky strand of finishes over the last five weeks of competition, but a late race caution bounced his shot at winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, Ryan Blaney finished fifth after the dust settled after an issue on pit road.
Although he narrowly missed his first victory of the 2025 season, Blaney ultimately achieved his first top 5 finish at Darlington Raceway after 16 attempts.
Blaney fired off from the ninth-place starting spot to begin the 293-lap sprint, and immediately went to work as he would swing by Tyler Reddick for the eighth place before the first caution of the day came out for a spinning Kyle Larson off of Turn 2 on Lap 4.
Blaney serviced his No. 12 Ford along with most of the field as he would restart in 20th in the early goings of the race.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion carved his way back through the field, ultimately winding up with a fourth-place effort in Stage 1.
Blaney replicated the same success that he had in Stage 2, driving his way back through the field from 15th to find himself up to fifth as the caution and green white checkered flag flew to conclude the end of Stage 2.
Ryan Blaney navigating the tough 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
Blaney demonstrated great perseverance after experiencing a slow pit stop. The jackman for the No. 12 car struggled to lift his Ford quickly, which caused the team to lose several positions by the time of the restart.
The Ohio born driver flexed his muscles for the closing 100 laps, driving all the way from outside the top 10 all the way to second with just under 15 laps remaining in the event.
Blaney followed closely behind race leader Reddick, who hit the wall off Turn 4 with four laps remaining, allowing the No. 12 to take the lead on Lap 290.
Just as Blaney possessed the lead, Larson spun yet again, sending the race to overtime with 2 laps remaining in the race.
During the final and most critical pit stops of the race, Blaney lost several positions again due to a slow pit stop, placing him fourth in line off the pit lane for the restart.
Christopher Bell would go to the driver’s right of Blaney on the restart, shooting past for the fourth spot as Denny Hamlin went on to win back-to-back races, with Blaney finishing fifth on the day.
It was another close finish for Ryan Blaney, falling just short of striking for the victory. (Photo Credit: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
“I’m proud of the effort that we had. I’m disappointed in the result.” Said Blaney in a post-race interview.
“I thought we could have won the race and had a good shot at winning the race. We did the last run perfectly. I thought our pit call was fantastic, and our car was fast enough to stay. It had a lot of speed in it late, but a late yellow and then lost the lead off pit road. We didn’t even get to start on the front row, and you’re not gonna go from fourth to first in a green-white-checkered here, so it just wasn’t meant to be, but proud of the effort.”
Blaney highlighted how if the last caution had not come out for Larson that he was confident in holding off the rest of the field for the final 3 laps of the event.
“If the caution didn’t come out, I thought we had it won easily. We were so much faster on newer tires. It was a great strategy call running long. I thought I was gonna kind of ride off into the sunset. That’s just not how it worked, unfortunately. We lost the lead on pit road, lost a front row starting spot, and never had a shot.”
The 13-time NASCAR Cup Series winner navigated the field twice today due to issues with his pit crew on pit road, causing the team to lose valuable positions in their pursuit of victory.
“It was just a day where nothing went our way. It’s kind of crappy. That part sucks about it. Your car is so fast, and we just kept having to make it up. It was like, ‘Gosh, we have to come from 15th to the top three.’ We just could never start at the front. I thought we were, by far, the best car, especially the second half of the race, and just had to keep playing catch-up, so we have to clean a few things up on our end, for sure, but I’m proud of the effort.”
Blaney has advanced to seventh place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings as the tour prepares to move to “Thunder Valley” at Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday.
