Blaney Steals Stage 2 Of Daytona 500 From Cindric

Ryan Blaney in action at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (HHP/Chris Owens photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In a wildly-contrasting second stage of the 67th Daytona 500, Ryan Blaney overhauled his teammate Austin Cindric coming to the green-checkered flag for his fourth career stage victory in the Great American Race.

With a push from longtime friend Chase Elliott, Blaney surged ahead of Cindric in the last 100 yards entering the tri-oval, nipping Cindric at the Daytona Int’l Speedway start-finish line by .040 seconds.

It marked the 41st stage win of Blaney’s NASCAR Cup Series career. All four of Blaney’s Daytona 500 stage victories have come in the second segment of the season-opening crown jewel.

The dominant car of stage two was Cindric, who led eight times for a combined 36 of the 65 laps in the second leg of the Daytona 500. In fact, he traded the point with Alex Bowman seven times down the stretch of stage two, as the pair led the top and bottom lanes, respectively.

But Blaney’s last-lap blast to Cindric’s outside was the difference between first and second, with Elliott trailing the pair across the start-finish line in third.

Alex Bowman and Todd Gilliland were fourth and fifth, respectively, with Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, and Kyle Busch closing the points-scoring drivers in the top 10.

Logano rallied from a throttle-body issue that struck his No. 22 Ford just after the second stage went green at lap 71, getting the free pass to get back on the lead lap at lap 83 before his crew made successful repairs.

A seven-car crash in turn one on that lap-71 restart and debris in turn one at lap 83 were the only two cautions in stage two.

Through 130 laps, 12 drivers have exchanged the lead 33 times, with Logano leading three times for a race-high 43 circuits.

Polesitter Chase Briscoe was scored 25th at the end of stage two in his first race with Joe Gibbs Racing.