DAYTONA, FL - Ryan Blaney won his second race of 2025 and the 15th Cup race of his career today. This marks Blaney’s second career Cup win at Daytona International Speedway. It’s also his fifth career win on superspeedways as he has three victories at Talladega. Blaney, along with Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry qualified for the playoffs. Today’s win is Ford’s 746th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition. It also marks Team Penske’s 105th series win with Ford.
Ford Unofficial Finishing Results:
1st – Ryan Blaney
4th – Cole Custer
7th – Chris Buescher
9th – Josh Berry
11th – Todd Gilliland
14th – Ryan Preece
18th – Brad Keselowski
20th – Cody Ware
27th – Joey Logano
29th – Casey Mears
31st – Zane Smith
38th – Noah Gragson
39th – Austin Cindric
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW:
WHAT ABOUT THE LAST FEW LAPS OF THAT RACE?
“Yeah, we just started rolling. I was with the 41 if he wanted to go three-wide top I wanted to let him know that under caution, and I was kind of waiting for him to go and knew we were probably gonna have people go with us if we went up top, it was just a matter of who would bite first. I figured if two of us went up there, you’d have followers and help. We finally went and it kind of checked on the tri-oval and Cole jumped up and we were able to keep a bunch of momentum going and have good pushes from Suarez, things like that, and then I just kind of kept creeping on the top. When the 7 blocked the 41 and the next thing I know I’m leading the lane and now I’m clear to the middle and I can play two lanes. I didn’t quite know what lane to block, the middle or top at the end. I was like, ‘Just try middle. I think we’ve got enough momentum.’ Enough to hold them off. It was a crazy last few laps, that’s for sure. I’m gonna be excited to go back and watch it on TV.”
HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO WIN AGAIN HERE AT DAYTONA?
“It’s nice to be back. This is such a cool Victory Lane, looking up and seeing the World Center of Racing. It’s something I’ll never forget when we won here in ‘21. It’s just a cool place to be, so it’s really special. When you can win at Daytona, Talladega, you never know what’s gonna happen at these places and you just try to do the best job you can and we did that tonight and was in a spot to win and was able to hang on.”
YOU’VE GOT FIVE STRAIGHT TOP 10 FINISHES. TALK ABOUT YOUR MOMENTUM GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS?
“I think this team is really doing a good job of hitting our stride when we need to. I’ve been proud of our efforts all year, it’s just been can we smooth some things out and have some stuff go our way. It seems to be smoothing out and this team is just performing and finishing where we should. That’s what I’ve been happy with, so it’s great to win this one and good momentum for next week.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
WHAT HAPPENED DOWN THE STRETCH?
“I don’t know. This race car was really good. The team did a fantastic job. The FIfth Third Bank Ford Mustang was fast and handled fantastic. We got up there and was side-by-side there with the 22. We only got there for about two laps and I thought that was gonna be a really good spot and let us be able to duke it out. I think he got hit a little bit there, so we lost our track position on that caution and got behind some cars and got a little bit boxed in. That’s a shame because we just want more and our car was so good. We had a shot to win that thing and it’s great to be there, but we just want to win.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
YOU WERE IN POSITION AND THEN SOMETHING WENT WRONG WITH THE 43 BEHIND YOU.
“Yeah, we were in the right place. It’s happened many, many times where we’ve been in the right place here at Daytona and we don’t have anything to show for it. Our team is so good at it. Our cars are fast. Our execution was really good today. Coleman (Pressley, spotter) did great. It’s just our car was a little free and then where the push came as the track flattens out there it spins the leader right out. It is what it is.” DESPITE THAT DO YOU FEEL GOOD GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “There are good tracks lined up. There’s good momentum. Obviously, Ryan getting a win, that’s good momentum as well for the team. This team has done a good job the last seven or eight weeks. A lot of weird things have happened, but we’ve done a good job controlling what we can, so that’s what you’ve got to do in the playoffs.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Little Bites/Capri Sun Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
YOU WERE RIGHT THERE.
“Man, I felt like we were gonna win that race. You want to talk about having the best scenario play out for how we wanted it to, I was just leaving the 7 there. The 17 was doing a great job just letting him stay there and there’s nothing you can do. The problem is you know the 9 and the 5 were worried about their teammate that would have been bumped out, so it was a tough situation. I thought we were gonna win that one because we did everything right today and it just didn’t work out.”
CODY WARE, No. 51 Arby’s Jamocha Shake Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“It was definitely not the result we wanted, but I think we showed the guys today that we’re gonna keep showing up at these races and keep trying to do our best to win. We’re gonna get one some day soon here. It’s gonna come sooner rather than later, so just super glad to get the Arby’s 51 Jamocha Shake up front. Ford Performance and our Roush Yates Engines was fast all day. I learned a lot running up front and I think we’re gonna get one here once we can dial it in and get some track position and just happy with the speed we had all day.” WHAT ABOUT THE FINAL STAGE TRYING TO SAVE AND THEN GO. “Track position was just too important. Even at these races now you’ve got to be up front to stay up front. I tried to maneuver around a little bit, but unfortunately on that final restart that third line formed while we were already kind of married to the bottom, so we couldn’t get our way up there. Still, I think we had our best race of the year and our result doesn’t show that.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“I saw a lot of cars wrecking and I hit one of them after I thought we got through the wreck. It’s just a shame for our Maytag/Menards Ford Mustang. I tried to make the third lane work, maybe a little too early, I lost some track position and felt like the intensity was picking up super early in the race there and I got collected and now I’m talking to you.” WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS GOING INTO DARLINGTON? “I think it should be a really interesting playoffs. I don’t feel like there’s a single team or driver that necessarily comes in with a standout advantage, so I look at that as a great opportunity. I’m excited for what we have in store for the playoffs.”
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Zep Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“We’re only on lap 27, 28 and there are guys trying to make it four-wide at the front of the pack. I was just collateral damage at that point. It’s definitely a bummer, but I’m still super proud of our team. We started almost towards the back, 32nd I think, and we were up in the top 10 20 laps in, so it’s not from a lack of effort. I just really appreciate everybody at Front Row Motorsports. We’re looking on to Darlington. It’s more in our control and look to have a strong run there.” WHAT DID YOU SEE? “I saw them wrecking towards the bottom and they shot up the racetrack into us. I mean, it’s every race this year it seems like, or most of them. We’ll go on to Darlington and try again. We’ve just been collateral damage all year long and just the wrong place at the right time pretty much every race. If I ride around in last, I mean we started 32nd and drove up into the top 10 20 laps in, so I don’t know. You just hang out and Monday morning quarterback it and hang out in the back and save fuel, but as a race car driver and for our team, I want to try and lead every lap and get up there and be smart while I do it and I felt like I was doing a decent job at that, but just getting caught up in the wrecks. They’re always right where we are this year.”
