Ryan Blaney recaps wild closing laps at Daytona, working his way to the front to win Coke Zero Sugar 400

Ryan Blaney is the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 champion. Blaney remarkably went from 13th to first in the last two laps to take the checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway.

Blaney connected with fellow Ford driver Cole Custer, and the two made a charge to the front on the final running the high line. Once Custer cut down to the bottom in an attempt to get by race leader Justin Haley, Blaney had his opening.

He surged to the lead and held off Daniel Suárez, Haley and Custer — all drivers who needed to win to make the playoffs — to pick up the 15th victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Blaney did his best to explain how he pulled it off while speaking with Marty Snider of NBC Sports.

“What a wild last couple laps, honestly,” Blaney said. “I was with Cole, I kind of asked him on the restart if you got to the top, I’m going with you, and we just waited and waited and then the opportunity came. He made the move to get to the top and we were able to get really good shoves. Couple good guys behind us and it just kind of cleared the way for me. The 7 [Haley] and 41 [Custer] got racing and I was able to clear the top and just barely hold out for the win.

“Cool night, man. Everybody, thanks for coming. This is so cool. Awesome crowd tonight, awesome night.”

Ryan Blaney finishes off regular season in epic fashion

With qualifying rained out, Blaney started from the pole after the field was set by the metric. He led 27 laps but often found himself racing in the back of the pack. Traditionally, Blaney loves to race up front at superspeedways. The night took him in a different direction, but he found his way to the front when it mattered most.

“I think we took a lot of what was given to us,” Blaney said. “Kind of how we played Stage 1, had to take a lot of gas in Stage 2 and I wasn’t gonna make up any ground, so I just went into fuel save mode to where I could maybe go a little earlier than other guys. Definitely not as traditional a way we like to run, we like to lead laps and things like that, I just couldn’t get there till the end. Got there when it mattered.”

With his second win of the season, Blaney finished second in the points standings despite compiling seven DNFs. Blaney will be the No. 4 seed in the 16-driver postseason field. Round 1 kicks off next Sunday at Darlington Raceway.