Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Nascar Mustang, nabbed the final Cup Series Playoffs spot by a mere three points after a wild race at Daytona on August 28th.
The race was scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 27th, but was rained out until the following morning. With the threat of rain looming, the race began at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday. Blaney’s No. 12 Nascar Mustang was involved in an incident on Lap 31 that severely damaged his Ford Racing pony, but his team was able to have it repaired per the sanctioning body’s damaged vehicle policy, continuing the race six laps down.
His main competitor for the final Playoffs position was Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry. To Blaney’s fortune, Truex was also involved in a crash, severely slowing his race car. Despite the fact that Truex’s No. 19 Camry finished on the lead lap and took home eighth place when the checkered flag fell, Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang performed more consistently throughout the season and accrued more points. When Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Chevy Camaro ZL1, scored an upset victory and forced his way into the Playoffs, Blaney’s three-point lead over Truex secured the last slot in the postseason championship.
“That’s definitely a lot more stressful than I wanted coming into here, but I just got to give a lot of props to the 12 group, you know, for fixing it and sticking with it all day,” Blaney said. “That’s why you do it… our fate was not really in our hands.”
Overall, out of 37 competitors who took the green flag at Daytona, only 17 crossed the finish line. The others were involved in wrecks or suffered critical mechanical failures that rendered them unable to continue.
The 16 drivers currently eligible for championship contention in the Playoffs of the 2022 season are as follows:
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford Mustang
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- William Byron, No. 24 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford Mustang
- Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Ford Mustang
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota TRD Camry
- Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota TRD Camry
- Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford Mustang
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Camaro ZL1
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford Mustang
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevy Camaro ZL1
- Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevy Camaro ZL1
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | 3 | Austin Dillon | BREZTRI Chevrolet | 160 | 10 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 6 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet | 160 | 13 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 14 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Menards/Maytag Ford | 160 | 13 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 35 | 77 | Landon Cassill(i) | Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 5 | 37 | 62 | * Noah Gragson(i) | Beard Motorsports/Southpoint Chevrolet | 160 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 6 | 33 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 7 | 36 | 78 | BJ McLeod(i) | NASCAR Rivals Ford | 160 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 13 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 160 | 1 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 9 | 34 | 15 | David Ragan | Select Blinds/Jacob Companies Ford | 160 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 22 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 160 | 7 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 11 | 30 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | DoorDash Toyota | 159 | 2 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 12 | 3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 158 | 14 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 23 | 45 | Ty Gibbs(i) | Monster Energy Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 14 | 10 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 156 | 11 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 16 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Advance Auto Parts Ford | 154 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 16 | 15 | 41 | Cole Custer | Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford | 153 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 11 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 148 | 22 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 25 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Thorntons Chevrolet | 144 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 19 | 29 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Dex Imaging Ford | 140 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 20 | 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Mobil 1 Ford | 139 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 27 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 138 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 20 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/NOS Chevrolet | 138 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 32 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | First Phase Ford | 138 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 4 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 137 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 19 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Cares Toyota | 137 | 13 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 26 | 28 | 16 | Daniel Hemric(i) | Cirkul Chevrolet | 137 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 27 | 8 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fifth Third Bank Ford | 137 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 18 | 31 | Justin Haley | Celsius Chevrolet | 137 | 8 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 29 | 2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | A SHOC Chevrolet | 137 | 31 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 30 | 31 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Built.com Chevrolet | 137 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 26 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 124 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 9 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Horizon Hobby Ford | 101 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 12 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Jockey Chevrolet | 101 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 34 | 17 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 101 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 35 | 24 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Castrol Ford | 31 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 36 | 5 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 30 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 37 | 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 14 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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