Ryan Blaney's Strong Daytona 500 Performance Falls Short Of Victory
2 days agoTeam Penske's Ryan Blaney was one of the top favorites to win this year's Daytona 500 but fell short of winning it despite a strong performance. Blaney quickly displayed that he had one of the best cars in the field right from the first stage, as he went from his starting position of sixth all the way to third by the end of the first stage and nabbed stage points. In the second stage, Blaney continued to flex his speed against the competition and eventually won the second stage of the race. The No. 12 Ford driver would trade the lead back and forth with several drivers over the course of the final stage, mostly running in the top 5 until lap 187 when he was involved in a multi-car accident. Although Blaney received damage from the incident and hit the wall and other drivers, his No. 12 car was able to continue onward. Blaney kept his car from receiving further damage for the rest of the race and caught back up to seventh as he avoided the last crash on the final lap. This finish would be the eighth top-10 finish of Blaney's Cup career at Daytona, and he led the most laps of the entire field (59).
Source: NASCAR.com
Source: NASCAR.com