Although the Coke Zero Sugar 400 was expected to deliver chaos as the regular-season finale, the race ran without major wrecks or overtime, except one big one early on. However, in the closing laps, it was pure racing that kept fans on edge, something that even race winner Ryan Blaney praised afterward.
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Appreciating the clean racing, Blaney said, “I was in the media center yesterday and explained my thoughts on bad blocks and the situations. And I didn’t really see that tonight. Like maybe I missed some, if maybe it did happen. But I didn’t see those guys that maybe have to win throw just massive blocks.
“I mean, the biggest one I saw tonight was probably Justin Haley on Cole (Custer), but I thought that was fine. Like it is what it is. It didn’t cause a wreck. They got through it and it cleared the way for me but yeah.
“I thought they raced me, they raced really smart and well, and didn’t throw their cars in any foolish situations. I thought everyone did a great job of just having a great race, but also keeping it clean as well. So, I think props to everybody.”
With two laps to go, Kyle Larson, running behind Ryan Preece, swung high and pulled Chase Elliott and a line of cars with him, leaving Preece stranded in the middle. The move fizzled, and the top lane collapsed, opening the door for Cole Custer to charge ahead with Blaney glued to his bumper.
Custer led at the white flag, but Blaney carried momentum through the middle groove and edged Custer out along with Justin Haley and Daniel Suárez in a four-wide sprint to the finish.
All of Suárez, Buescher, Haley, and Custer had chances to snatch the win, but none could match the horsepower of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford in the final stretch. Remarkably, none of them resorted to desperate blocks, wild pushes, or forcing Blaney into the wall.
The 31-year-old Penske pilot concluded that everyone handled the final laps well, calling the drivers around him at the front “respectful of everybody else.”
