Daytona NASCAR: Blaney survives to win in wreck-marred finish

Chris Buescher led the way entering the two-lap overtime – one of six drivers in the top 10 running order still trying to make the playoff in the regular season finale.

With one lap to go, Corey LaJoie gave Blaney a shove that allowed him to clear for the lead. A multi-car wreck erupted when Kurt Busch got into Daniel Suarez in Turn 3 to place the race under caution and secure Blaney’s victory.

“How about that? That was a lot of fun. Gosh, we just barely missed that wreck,” Blaney said. “Got to line up on the front row, got a good push by (LaJoie).

“You never know how the end of these things is going to play out. Down the back (stretch), you don’t know what lane is getting a bigger run. I guess someone got tangled up over there. Hopefully everyone is okay.

“It’s so cool. Win at Daytona, everybody here. Thank you guys for coming. Really special. It’s been a fun two weeks.”

It’s the third win of the 2021 season for Blaney, who won last Sunday’s race at Michigan with a late-race push to the lead by Kyle Busch.

Tyler Reddick, with a damaged car, finished fifth and clinched the 16th and final spot in the playoff field.

Kyle Larson, who finished 20th after getting caught up in that last-lap wreck, still won the regular season title over Denny Hamlin by 18 points.

Buescher had claimed second in the race, but in the post-race inspection his #17 car failed the checks in the early hours of Sunday morning at Daytona as his car was found to have an unapproved track bar mounting assembly.

As a result, the #17 was disqualified from the race, handing Buescher a last-place finish (40th) and he would not get to keep any stage points accumulated in the race.

The disqualification moved Bubba Wallace into a second-place finish, Ryan Newman to third, Ryan Preece fourth and Tyler Reddick gained a fifth-place finish in a wrecked car.

The remainder of the top 10 were Justin Haley, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and B.J. McLeod and Josh Bilicki.

In addition to Reddick and Larson, also advancing to the Cup series playoff are: Hamlin, Elliott, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Blaney, Martin Truex Jr, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell and Aric Almirola.

Race results - 165 laps

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	2:54'03.219
2	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	2:54'03.992	0.773
3	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	2:54'04.143	0.924
4	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	2:54'04.738	1.519
5	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	2:54'05.412	2.193
6	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	2:54'08.261	5.042
7	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	2:54'08.262	5.043
8	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	2:54'14.902	11.683
9	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	2:54'15.428	12.209
10	78	B.J. McLeod	Ford	2:54'16.360	13.141
11	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	2:54'16.934	13.715
12	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	2:54'20.084	16.865
13	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	2:54'21.068	17.849
14	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	2:54'22.155	18.936
15	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	2:54'25.575	22.356
16	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	2:57'12.080	3'08.861
17	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	2:53'12.440	1 Lap
18	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	2:53'12.582	1 Lap
19	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	2:53'12.668	1 Lap
20	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	2:53'12.681	1 Lap
21	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	2:53'12.764	1 Lap
22	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	2:53'12.983	1 Lap
23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	2:54'05.507	1 Lap
24	22	Joey Logano	Ford	2:54'21.883	1 Lap
25	41	Cole Custer	Ford	2:54'24.249	1 Lap
26	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	2:54'37.279	1 Lap
27	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	2:54'16.387	2 Laps
28	66	David Starr	Toyota	2:54'18.745	2 Laps
29	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	2:54'21.183	2 Laps
30	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	2:54'27.212	2 Laps
31	53	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	2:54'30.459	2 Laps
32	15	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	2:54'40.607	3 Laps
33	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	2:39'33.941	8 Laps
34	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	2:38'22.952	9 Laps
35	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	2:38'23.028	9 Laps
36	16	Kaz Grala	Chevrolet	2:38'23.468	9 Laps
37	96	Landon Cassill	Toyota	2:24'38.024	19 Laps
38	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	2:25'30.392	19 Laps
39	00	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	2:54'31.333	29 Laps
40	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	21'23.834	142 Laps
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