DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The main character in the most memorable out-of-nowhere superspeedway comeback in recent memory is looking forward to reliving his thrilling two-lap dash from 13th to first.
Through in-car, overhead and panoramic cameras, Ryan Blaney can watch the finish of the regular-season finale from at least a dozen replay angles — each outlining a different story of the cascading butterfly effects that coalesced into his second victory at Daytona International Speedway.
“I bet it’s pretty cool,” Blaney said. “I have a unique view of it, but I can’t see what’s all around me, so I’m excited to see it from a bird’s-eye view.”
Perhaps by some umpteenth viewing, the Team Penske star finally will see something to convince himself that he’s deserving of more credit for an epic run to the checkered flag.
Or, as Blaney described it in downplaying his deft and split-second decisions, the “circumstantial stuff” that “just kind of worked” in the regular-season finale.
“A lot of things go into it,” Blaney said. “I can’t do it by myself. It wasn’t me out there making those (moves). I didn’t just turn left and pass everybody by myself. You have to wait, which I think is what makes a good speedway racer to me, or at least that I try to keep in my head, is you have to be ready for the opportunity to go make the big move.
“I try to be patient for that opportunity. If it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come.”
It finally arrived Saturday night at a superspeedway for Blaney, a five-time winner at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway, who had been in an uncharacteristic slump at the drafting tracks. In the past six races there, he had taken some wicked hits while finishing 37th or worse three times.
And though he might have eschewed any chest-thumping about outwitting roughly a dozen competitors over the course of just over 90 seconds at the “World Center of Racing,” Blaney was caught up enough in the emotion of the moment for a rare burnout in his No. 12 Ford.
“I was fired up, man,” Blaney said. “Whenever you win at these speedways, it pumps you up.”
This one should have a little more meaning — and not just because he will enter the 10-race playoffs with a breathtaking win at Daytona playing on an endless loop until the green flag drops on Sunday at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
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Consider the myriad ways in which his second victory this season was such a game-changer for Blaney and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series:
— It sealed the playoff fate of several drivers, catapulting winless Alex Bowman into the final slot of the 16-driver field on points while denying an automatic qualifying victory for the four desperate drivers (Daniel Suárez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer and Erik Jones) who each finished within roughly 6 feet of Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang.
— It’s the first win for a Ford in more than two months.
— It might be remembered as a critical turning point if Blaney reaches the Championship 4 for the third consecutive year. In the final five miles at the “World Center of Racing,” Blaney gained nine playoff points — five for his 15th career victory and four from jumping from fifth to second in the final regular-season standings.
“Tonight was super exciting to me because we came from where we did in two laps,” Blaney said. “Everything just clicked right away, and it all kind of is a blur.
“But it ranks up there.”
The charge evoked some memories of the most famous superspeedway rally in NASCAR history: Dale Earnhardt’s drive from 18th to first in the last five laps at Talladega for his 76th and final victory.
Blaney immediately shut down any comparison to Earnhardt, but he did entertain the notion that he has become one of the elite superspeedway drivers in NASCAR’s premier series by working with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski at Team Penske.
“I feel like I do a decent job,” Blaney said. “I got to learn from a couple great guys. Watching Joey and Brad and just being around them and following them, I just was able to soak up all that information, how they went about it and pick their brain.
“And then I was able to turn it around and apply it to my racing as I got a little bit more comfortable and experienced. I just try to be patient. Sometimes you just have to let it play out and see what happens. I try to be patient and disciplined and in it for the long haul, and that’s what we were tonight.”

Unlike Earnhart’s famous run at Talladega — a frenzy of daring lane changes and masterful weaving — Blaney hardly diverted from his racing line in the last two laps at Daytona because his plan worked to perfection.
Before the final restart with eight laps remaining, he worked out a deal through spotter communication to follow Custer up to the high lane. When the bottom lanes unexpectedly slowed heading to the white flag, Blaney and Custer shot to the top, and the scrambling down the banking began.
As Custer ducked to the bottom to block a run for the lead by Haley, Blaney motored to the checkered flag with help from Suárez.
“You have no time to think about that stuff,” Blaney said. “It’s a bang-bang play. You’d better just go with whatever your gut says. That was our opportunity to do it. If he wouldn’t have done that, I don’t know if we would have got there, honestly. … It’s all situational, and you go with your gut on a lot of things. And I make a lot of bad decisions too out there, but this one tonight just happened to work out.”
That’s been Blaney’s mantra recently for Penske, which has been running much better than its results recently. It’s a hallmark for the team that has won three consecutive titles with late-season runs by Blaney and Logano.
“We’ve made improvements in all facets of our program,” Jonathan Hassler, Blaney’s crew chief, said. “I think we have probably some of the fastest and most consistent pit crews on pit road. Our cars continue to get more speed. Our road-course program was something that in years past we’ve struggled with at times, and you look at Watkins Glen and (Blaney) getting a pole and fighting for stage win and race win. We continue to try to improve in each and every area, and I think we’re doing a good job of that.”
An indicator of the adversity he’s overcome: Blaney finished second in the regular-season standings despite having a series-high seven DNFs.
“I think Ryan Blaney is pretty special,” Team Penske NASCAR president Michael Nelson said. “Think about how many races we’ve had this year where he’s really coming through challenging for the win at the end. So many races where when the end comes around, you see the 12 car.”
Maybe that’s why Blaney carried a certain nonchalance about his miracle run at Daytona — he always expects to be up front regardless of the odds.
“We’ve been running good through the races and the stages and maybe not gotten the finishes we deserved, but we just powered through it into next week,” Blaney said. “This group has been really good all year. I’m really happy where we’re at, and I think it speaks volumes that we could be P2 in points and have kind of the DNFs and stuff like that through the regular season. I think it really speaks of how good this team is, and hopefully we can show it over the next 10 weeks.”
