CUP: Ryan Blaney bitten by Darlington’s brutal second turn in midrace stackup
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: FOX Sports
Ryan Blaney picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at the Darlington Raceway when his #12 Menards / Maytag Ford was eliminated due to the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) after he completed 129 of 293 laps.
The finish, which came in Blaney’s 319th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since June 25, 2023 at Nashville, 32 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 9th under the DVP, the 32nd for the #12, and the 743rd for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 14th by way of DVP, the 50th for the #12, and the 1,036th for Ford.
When he was last featured on this site, Blaney was hurting from his car smashing head-on into an unprotected concrete barrier at the Nashville Superspeedway. This didn’t slow him down, however, as he parlayed his streak-busting Coca-Cola 600 victory into a successful championship push. Critical victories at Talladega and Martinsville put him into the Championship Four, where he played second-fiddle to teammate Joey Logano a year earlier, and he clinched the title by finishing runner-up to Ross Chastain.
This year, Blaney has seemingly been the lone exception to an overall lackluster performance by Ford’s new Dark Horse Mustang. He came just three-thousandths of a second short of prevailing in the three-wide photo finish in Atlanta, then took 3rd in Las Vegas and 5th in Phoenix. Daytona was his only run worse than 19th until a rough afternoon in Texas, and he rebounded nicely with a solid 7th in Dover, where he led 47 laps. This ranked him 6th in the overall standings heading into Darlington.
Blaney was not among the teams running special “throwback” schemes for the Darlington race, instead campaigning his familiar bright yellow Menards scheme with the Maytag logo on the hood. The car only showed mid-pack speed from the start, ranking 19th of the 36 entrants in practice, then qualifying 17th with a lap of 170.501mph (28.842 seconds).
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Noah Gragson in the #10 Overstock Ford. Though he wouldn’t be joined by other cars that incurred pre-race penalties, the lineup nevertheless changed during the pace laps. When Gragson took the green, he crossed the line 2.869 seconds back of the leader. Behind him came Josh Berry, 2.9 seconds back in a #4 Harrison’s Ford honoring his crew chief Rodney Childers, and new last-place runner Harrison Burton in a black 1950s “throwback” scheme on his #21 Dex Imaging Ford, 3.029 behind. Burton’s father Jeff Burton waved the green flag.
At the end of Lap 1, Burton remained in last, 4.49 seconds back of the lead and 0.194 behind Berry. By Lap 3, Burton found himself locked in a three-car battle with both Daniel Hemric in the #31 Black’s Tire Chevrolet and Chase Elliott in the #9 UniFirst Chevrolet decorated in Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s 2014 colors, each separated from the other by a few hundredths of a second. The battle was settled by Lap 5 with Hemric now in last and Kaz Grala taking 35th in the #15 N29 Capital Partners Ford. Hemric then closed the gap to 0.160 second on Lap 6, and on Lap 9 inched ahead of the #15 by just 0.026. The next time by, that gap grew to 0.409. The interval stayed about the same through Lap 28, by which point Grala dropped Derek Kraus to 35th in the #16 projectwyoming.com Chevrolet.
On Lap 35, before Grala could pass Kraus, the first round of green-flag stops began. Burton retook it that time by after his stop, having taken a pound of air from the right-rear. Zane Smith took it on Lap 38, his #71 Focused Health Chevrolet resembling the iconic K&K Insurance Dodge driven by Bobby Isaac and Dave Marcis. Kraus retook last on Lap 40, then Grala on Lap 42, and Austin Dillon on Lap 47. Dillon’s #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, honoring Dale Earnhardt with a version of his gold All-Star scheme from 1998, held the spot until Lap 66, when he dropped Kraus back to 36th. Kraus remained in last when Stage 1 ended on Lap 91, at the time showing between one and two laps down.
On board with Kaz Grala, running 38th, as he tries to reel in Derek Kraus and the rest of the trailing cars. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)
Late in the previous run, around Lap 69, Kraus’ teammate Daniel Hemric reported he’d lost power steering. Addressing the issue dropped him to last under the caution on Lap 85. The crew couldn’t figure out whether the problem was the steering rack or the power steering pump, and Hemric decided not to go to the garage. He also climbed out of last place on Lap 96, dropping Burton back to the spot, followed on Lap 97 by Daniel Suarez in his Adrian Fernandez-inspired #99 Quaker State Chevrolet. Suarez, who had dropped into the Bottom Five late in Stage 1, then moved past Hemric on Lap 98, putting the #31 at the tail end of the line for the restart. It wasn’t until Lap 116 that Hemric caught teammate Kraus once more, putting the #16 back in last place.
The next last-place challenger was John Hunter Nemechek, whose #42 Family Dollar Toyota honored Lee Petty. On Lap 121, Nemechek spun off Turn 4 and stalled on the apron with three flat tires. On the grip of only his right-rear tire, he still managed to drive all the way back to pit entrance, only to stop when he couldn’t make the turn. NASCAR summoned a tow truck to drag him back to his stall, where the crew made repairs and changed tires. He took last on Lap 123, then returned to the track two laps later, by which point he was four laps down. Even though a tow truck brought him into the pits, NASCAR handed him a redundant tail-end penalty for entering a closed pit road.
A stranded John Hunter Nemechek is towed onto pit road. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)
On Lap 129, the race restarted, and Martin Truex, Jr. found himself falling out of the Top Five, his #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota trapped in the middle of a three-wide battle with Blaney to his outside and William Byron’s #24 Axalta Chevrolet, which brought back Jeff Gordon’s iconic black-and-orange scheme introduced in 2009. Coming off Turn 2, Byron broke loose into Truex, who tipped the left-rear corner of Blaney. This caused Blaney to slap the wall at corner exit, slowing him in front of a trapped Truex, who was forced into the back of the #12 by a closing Chris Buescher in the #17 Fifth Third Bank Ford. Buescher and Truex made it back around with minor nose damage, but Blaney had at least one bent toe link in the right-rear. On Lap 133, Blaney returned to the track, looking to clear the “Crash Clock.” But the crew told him that time had expired, ending their day. Blaney took a swipe at Byron on his way back to the garage, done for the day. NASCAR declared him the first car out on Lap 146.
Blaney pulls into the garage, the first driver out of the race. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)
Taking the 35th spot was Zane Smith, whose #71 broke loose off Turn 4 and slammed nose-first into the inside wall. Smith received a push from an equipment truck, but was ultimately retired from the race. Kyle Larson looked strong in the #5 HendrickCars.com Throwback Chevrolet, which resembled Terry Labonte’s famous Kellogg’s Corn Flakes machine, leading 15 laps. But two flat tires – the second of which sending him spinning into the Turn 3 wall, ultimately knocked him out of the race. Hemric’s #31 finished 33rd, the driver making it to the finish without power steering to come home three laps down. Rounding out the group was polesitter Tyler Reddick, whose tribute to Tim Richmond’s 1982 Daytona Consolation Race winner led a race-high 174 laps. It was Reddick’s #45 MoneyLion Toyota which battled RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski. Contact with Buescher led to cut tires for both drivers, allowing Keselowski to make the winning pass and end a 110-race winless streak.
Darlington race sees both newcomers and underdogs shine
Smart and aggressive driving – not attrition – led to several drivers earning impressive finishes. Behind race-winner Keselowski came Ty Gibbs, who led 34 laps in his #54 He Gets Us Toyota and earned a career-best 2nd-place finish. This is already Gibbs’ eighth top-five finish in only 64 series starts.
Josh Berry took home 3rd in the #4, nearly besting his own career-best 2nd-place finish while driving in relief of Chase Elliott last spring at Richmond. Prior to Sunday, Berry’s best finish of 2024 had been an 11th in his return to Richmond, making this both his first Top Five and Top Ten of the season.
Chase Briscoe’s quietly consistent season saw him finish 5th in the #14 Mahindra Tractors Ford for his own first Top Five of the season and his best run since a 6th in Texas. He continues to hold fast to the final spot in the Playoffs for a second-straight race.
Perhaps the most impressive runs belonged to Rick Ware Racing as Justin Haley finished 9th in the #51 NC Fraternal Order of Police Ford for his first top-ten finish since leaving Kaulig Racing at the end of last season. Combined with teammate Kaz Grala, who finished 18th in a tribute to Parnelli Jones’ Mustang Boss 302, it was a rare double-top-twenty finish for the Ware team and their best-ever overall performance at Darlington.
Also impressive was Front Row Motorsports, whose exiting driver Michael McDowell finished 10th in the #34 Long John Silver’s Ford – a dramatic rebound for a driver whose two Playoff appearances saw him struggle at Darlington. His own teammate, Todd Gilliland, ran in the Top 10 through Stage 1 and continued to show competitive pace before slipping to 15th by the finish.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place for the #12 in a Cup Series race at Darlington since September 1, 1952, when Jim Paschal’s 1952 Oldsmobile lost the engine after 18 laps of the third annual Southern 500. In an era with massive starting fields for NASCAR’s first 500-mile race, Paschal finished in 66th place.
*The 129 laps that Blaney completed ranks as the eighth-most of a Cup Series last-place finisher at Darlington.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #12-Ryan Blaney / 129 laps / crash / led 1 lap
35) #71-Zane Smith / 161 laps / crash
34) #5-Kyle Larson / 252 laps / crash / led 15 laps
33) #31-Daniel Hemric / 290 laps / running
32) #45-Tyler Reddick / 291 laps / running / led 174 laps / won stage 2
2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Spire Motorsports (3)
2nd) Penske Racing (2)
3rd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Motorsports Business Management, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (6)
2nd) Chevrolet (5)
3rd) Toyota (2)
2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
