Ryan Blaney Survives Daytona to Claim Final Playoff Berth, Truex Out – Motorsports Tribune

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The last man standing.

Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex, Jr. came into Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona holding on to the final two NASCAR Cup Series Playoff spots, just hoping to survive the day and keep ahold of those positions in the points.

However, a clean day is the exact opposite of what they got, with both drivers sustaining damage at various points of the race that threw the battle for the postseason into complete disarray.

It took just 32 laps for Blaney’s day to go awry, when he got collected in a six-car incident on the backstretch. Despite the damage to his car, the No. 12 team went to work immediately, getting their driver back on track under the time allotted by the Damaged Vehicle Policy to keep him in the hunt.

Although his Ford was wounded, being able to stay on track would be crucial down the stretch.

Truex looked to be in the catbird seat in the second half of the race, running strong and keeping his nose clean before things took a turn for the worse when he was swept up in an eight-car crash on the backstretch on lap 103.

Much like Blaney’s crew, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing crew got Truex back in action and allowed him to stay on the lead lap. He steered clear of further damage in subsequent cautions on lap 126 and 132, as well as staying out of the rain-induced melee on lap 139.

That’s when things got interesting for both Blaney and Truex.

Austin Dillon somehow managed to skate through the lap 139 crash to take the lead, while Truex had managed to gain enough ground in the points race to overtake Blaney when the rains came and brought out the red flag.

If the race were to be called with 21 laps still on the board and Dillon as the victor, Truex would be the 16^th and final driver in the Playoffs, with Blaney as the driver on the outside looking in.

However, if the race were to be resumed, Blaney would have a fighting chance to try and move up the leaderboard enough to retake his lost ground in the points race.

The key to it all would be the driver that ended the day in Victory Lane. If a driver that had already won a race this season captured another win, both drivers would be in, but if a driver like Dillon won the race, it would come down to track position over the final run to the checkered flag to determine whether it would be Blaney or Truex as the last man standing.

First, Dillon led the way, with Truex running in the…