It isn’t after every win that you see Ryan Blaney excited enough to do a burnout in his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. But on Saturday, after winning the Coke Zero Sugar 400, he certainly was. The 2023 Cup Series champion smoked the tires of his car in front of a massive crowd at Daytona and let his playoff contenders know that he meant business in the postseason.
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Speaking to John Newby in the aftermath, he revealed the multiple reasons that he had for switching up his post-victory routine at the 2.5-mile tri-oval superspeedway. “I was fired up, man!” Blaney quipped with elation.
“Multiple reasons. Whenever you win at these speedways, it pumps you up. The last two laps we had were pretty awesome, like how we came from 14th or wherever we were up to get the lead.”
The final two laps were a wild dash that involved Blaney, Justin Haley, Cole Custer, and Daniel Suarez. Blaney came out on top at the end of it to secure a historic success that warranted the burnout. But why doesn’t he celebrate in this fashion more often?
I asked @Blaney why he chose to do a burnout after Saturday night’s win. Was it just because he finished a race at Daytona after so many prior crashes?
“Maybe,” he said with a smile before providing a far deeper answer. #NASCAR https://t.co/OWG1wNf937 https://t.co/ikX1rfRSIY— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) August 24, 2025
The answer goes back to a conversation he had with the legendary crew chief, Dale Inman, many years ago. Inman had pulled Blaney aside one day and said, “Hey, you don’t see the winner of the Kentucky Derby get off his horse and start beating the s**t out of it.”
So, it all comes down to a matter of respect. Interestingly, there was another important reason for him deciding that Saturday wasn’t just another day and another win.
The No. 12 Ford Mustang was wrapped in the black Advance Auto Parts scheme for the race. Blaney has crashed out in several events when driving with this scheme. To finally break the curse had left him overjoyed. He said, “I’ve gotten right hooked with that scheme more times than I can count.
“The CEO, Shane (O’Kelly), told me, ‘I think we’ve paid our dues with that paint scheme at speedways.’ He’s like, ‘I’ve got a really good feeling tonight.’ And it was super cool to pay that off and have their whole team here. It was a big night. It was a lot of things culminating, and I thought it deserved one.”
Courtesy of the win, Blaney moved up by one spot to fourth in the playoff standings. He also ensured that both Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman got seats in the playoffs. Had there been a new winner, which seemed like the likely outcome for a while toward the end, one of these drivers might have been cast out of the postseason.
The first race of the playoffs will be underway at Darlington Raceway next Sunday.
