Ryan Blaney won his second consecutive NASCAR Cup race at Daytona under caution on Saturday night, thanks to a late-race shove.
Chris Buescher was leading heading into the two-lap overtime, one of six drivers in the top ten still vying for a playoff spot in the regular season finale.
Corey LaJoie gave Blaney a shove with one lap to go, allowing him to pass for the lead. Kurt Busch collided with Daniel Suarez in Turn 3, causing a multi-car collision that brought the race to a halt and securing Blaney’s victory.
“How about that? That was a lot of fun. Gosh, we just barely missed that wreck,” Blaney said. “Got to line up on the front row, got a good push by (LaJoie).
“You never know how the end of these things is going to play out. Down the back (stretch), you don’t know what lane is getting a bigger run. I guess someone got tangled up over there. Hopefully everyone is okay.
“It’s so cool. Win at Daytona, everybody here. Thank you guys for coming. Really special. It’s been a fun two weeks.”
Blaney has already won three races in the 2021 season, including last Sunday’s race in Michigan, which he won despite a late-race push to the lead by Kyle Busch.
With a damaged car, Tyler Reddick finished fifth and clinched the 16th and final playoff position.
Kyle Larson earned the regular season title by 18 points over Denny Hamlin, despite finishing 20th after getting caught up in the last-lap incident.
Buescher finished second in the race, but his #17 car failed post-race inspection in the early hours of Sunday morning at Daytona due to an unapproved track bar mounting assembly.
As a result, the #17 was disqualified from the race, giving Buescher a 40th-place finish and denying him any stage points.
Bubba Wallace moved up to second, Ryan Newman to third, Ryan Preece to fourth, and Tyler Reddick to fifth in a wrecked car as a result of the disqualification.
Justin Haley, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, B.J. McLeod, and Josh Bilicki filled out the rest of the top ten.
Along with Reddick and Larson, Hamlin, Elliott, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Blaney, Martin Truex Jr, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Bowman, Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, and Aric Almirola have advanced to the Cup series playoff.
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