Ryan Blaney wins a thrilling four-wide race at Daytona International Speedway, securing NASCAR's regular-season finale

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ryan Blaney won a four-wide race across the Daytona International Speedway finish line Saturday night in NASCAR's regular-season finale a victory that denied a long-shot driver a spot in the playoffs and gave Alex Bowman postseason life.

Blaney was 13th with two laps to go but muscled his Team Penske Ford to the front and surged slightly ahead as he led the pack to the checkered flag. He beat Daniel Suarez by 0.031 seconds, Justin Haley by 0.036 seconds and Cole Custer by 0.049 seconds.

Erik Jones was fifth and Chris Buescher sixth. Any of the drivers behind Blaney would have been first-time winners this season and claimed the final spot in the 16-driver playoff field.

But Blaney a former series champion already locked into the field denied them of the Cinderella moment. His victory assured Bowman, who crashed early in the race and had to watch for more than three hours on TV to learn his fate, would race for the championship this season.

Tyler Reddick crashed early in and still clinched a spot in the playoffs.

How?

Just nine laps later, Bowman wrecked at Daytona and, with Bowman out of the race, it automatically locked Reddick into the 16-driver field.

Reddick and Bowman both started the race trying to claim the final two spots in the playoffs. Reddick, last year's regular-season champion, held a 29-point cushion over Bowman. But when he wrecked 18 laps into the race, he suddenly became in danger of missing out on racing for the championship just nine months after he made it to the title-deciding finale.

His worries went away on Lap 27 when Bowman was collected in a multi-car crash that ended the Hendrick Motorsports drivers' race. Bowman can still claim the final spot in the playoffs if there is not a first-time winner Saturday night.

There's just nothing you can do, welcome to superspeedway racing, Bowman said about the crash. We feel like it was out of our control and it is what it is. I am going to sit in front of a TV and watch, unfortunately we are on the sidelines watching and we're going to find out here in a couple of hours.

Hours before the race began Team Penske noted the death of Karl Kainhofer, the first employee Penske hired when he launched the motorsports juggernaut in 1966.

Kainhofer was was part of 10 of Penske's 20 Indianapolis 500 wins, including Mark Donohues 1972 win as chief mechanic. Donohue was Penske's second hire.

Team Penske said Kainhofer died Friday night. He was 94.

Karl Kainhofers contributions to Team Penske are immeasurable, Penske said.

The playoffs open next Sunday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. The race was the regular-season finale in 2024 and won by Chase Briscoe, who used the victory to claim the final spot in the playoffs.

___

AP auto racing:

瑞安·布莱尼（Ryan Blaney）在代托纳国际赛道上演惊险四车并驱对决，最终赢得NASCAR常规赛收官战胜利

佛罗里达州戴托纳海滩讯——周六晚，瑞安·布莱尼（Ryan Blaney）在纳斯卡（NASCAR）常规赛收官战中上演四车并驱冲刺，最终率先冲过戴托纳国际赛道终点线。这场胜利不仅断送了一位冷门车手晋级季后赛的希望，更为亚历克斯·鲍曼（Alex Bowman）赢得了季后赛入场券。

比赛还剩两圈时，布莱尼（Blaney）还排在第13位，但他驾驶着潘世奇车队的福特赛车强势超车，略微领先并率先冲过黑白格子旗。最终他以0.031秒的优势力压丹尼尔·苏亚雷斯（Daniel Suarez），0.036秒的优势击败贾斯汀·哈利（Justin Haley），并以0.049秒的差距领先科尔·卡斯特（Cole Custer）。

埃里克·琼斯位列第五，克里斯·布舍尔排名第六。若布兰尼身后的任何一位车手获胜，都将成为本赛季首次夺冠的选手，并赢得16强季后赛的最后一个席位。

但布兰尼——这位早已锁定参赛资格的前系列赛冠军——粉碎了他们的灰姑娘式逆袭美梦。他的胜利确保了鲍曼本赛季将获得冠军赛参赛资格。鲍曼在比赛初期就遭遇撞车事故，不得不通过电视煎熬等待三个多小时才得知自己的命运。

泰勒·雷迪克（Tyler Reddick）虽在比赛初期遭遇撞车事故，但仍成功锁定季后赛席位。

怎么做？

仅仅九圈后，鲍曼在代托纳赛道发生撞车事故退赛，这自动确保了雷迪克进入16强车手名单。

雷迪克（Reddick）和鲍曼（Bowman）在开赛时都试图争夺季后赛最后两个席位。作为去年常规赛冠军的雷迪克原本领先鲍曼29分，但他在比赛进行到第18圈时发生撞车事故，突然面临无缘冠军争夺的危险——而就在九个月前，他还曾成功晋级决定总冠军归属的决赛。

当鲍曼在第27圈被卷入多车相撞事故、导致亨德里克赛车运动车手退赛后，他的忧虑随之消散。若周六晚间赛事未出现首次夺冠者，鲍曼仍可锁定季后赛最后一个席位。

“在超级高速赛道比赛中，这种事你无能为力，”鲍曼谈及撞车事故时说道。“我们觉得这超出了我们的控制范围，只能接受现实。我打算坐在电视机前观看比赛，但不幸的是，我们只能在场边旁观，几小时后就会知道结果。”

比赛开始前数小时，潘世奇车队宣布了卡尔·凯恩霍弗（Karl Kainhofer）的逝世消息。这位元老员工是1966年罗杰·潘世奇创立这支赛车劲旅时聘用的首位雇员。

凯恩霍弗参与了潘世奇车队20次印第安纳波利斯500大赛胜利中的10次，其中包括1972年作为首席机械师助力马克·多诺霍夺冠。多诺霍是潘世奇雇用的第二名员工。

潘世奇车队称，凯恩霍弗于周五晚间去世，享年94岁。

彭斯克表示：“卡尔·凯恩霍费尔对彭斯克车队的贡献不可估量。”

季后赛将于下周日在美国南卡罗来纳州的达灵顿赛道拉开帷幕。该赛道在2024年承办了常规赛收官战，车手蔡斯·布里斯科（Chase Briscoe）凭借这场胜利锁定了季后赛最后一个席位。

美联社赛车新闻：