DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Blaney received for the second consecutive week when the race Saturday night time at Daytona Worldwide Speedway ended below warning in additional time with a typical fiery end.
Tyler Reddick took the sixteenth and last spot within the playoffs with a seventh-place end. Reddick wanted solely to beat Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon and hope for a repeat winner to earn his first playoff berth.
Reddick and Dillon had been each in competition to make a determined final gasp push for the win within the two-lap additional time dash to the end. However Blaney, who was second on the restart, cleared visitors with a push from Corey LaJoie and was effectively forward of the pack when a crash ended the race.
Daniel Suarez, considered one of 10 drivers within the entrance pack making an attempt to win the race to earn the automated playoff berth, turned Kevin Harvick to set off the multi-car crash.
Blaney, the winner in Michigan final week, heads into subsequent week’s playoff opener at Darlington Raceway with three victories this season in his Staff Penske Ford.
“Yeah, we have good momentum,” Blaney mentioned. “We might prefer to make it three in a row, we’ll see.”
The regular-season finale had pretty low stakes in that 15 of the 16 playoff slots had been claimed earlier than the beginning of the race. It meant solely a first-time race winner might edge Reddick or Dillon for the ultimate spot.
The one different competitors was for the regular-season title, which went to Kyle Larson, a five-time winner this season. The race for the regular-season championship and its playoff factors was between Larson and Denny Hamlin, who entered Daytona trailing Larson by 28 factors.
Hamlin held the regular-season lead for 22 weeks till Larson claimed it two races in the past at Indianapolis.
Olympic bronze medalist Noah Lyles served because the race’s grand marshal and demanded extra from the group.
Lyles, the 200-meter favourite who settled for third in Tokyo, requested followers for a louder response after his first try drew a lackluster effort.
“That is what I am speaking about,” he mentioned earlier than giving the command for drivers to begin their engines.
Lyles was sporting his medal earlier than the race and mingling with driver Bubba Wallace on the grid.
The playoffs start subsequent Sunday at Darlington Raceway, which just lately repaved a piece in Flip 2 that would change the best way the observe races. Kevin Harvick is the defending race winner and Martin Truex Jr. received on the South Carolina observe in Could.