DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Alex Bowman spent nearly three hours waiting out his fate in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, doomed to a DNF at Daytona International Speedway after a multicar Stage 1 wreck. He watched the rest of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from the track as a host of drivers bidding for their first win of the season threatened to knock him out.
Bowman was quick to toast Ryan Blaney’s stellar charge from 13th to victory in the final two laps, sealing his path to the postseason.
“Seven million beers,” Bowman told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass when asked what he owed him. “Certainly thankful for him.”
Bowman and Tyler Reddick left Daytona the way they entered, holding serve above the elimination line to sew up the final two spots in the Cup Series Playoffs. They were nearly a matched pair, with both enduring early crashes that threatened to derail their bids.
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Reddick wound up the benefactor after Bowman’s 36th-place finish made his points gap insurmountable. Still, Bowman could not advance until the nerve-jolting final lap when Blaney inched ahead of three other would-be playoff clinchers in a wild, four-abreast flash across the start/finish line. Daniel Suárez was the hard-luck runner-up, with Justin Haley and Cole Custer completing the top four behind Blaney — all separated by just 0.049 seconds.
Reddick was the first to find trouble, collecting Todd Gilliland with a Turn 4 spin on the 18th of 160 laps and nosing his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota into the inside retaining wall. “That was all my doing there at the start of the race,” Reddick said later, and the damage threatened to give Bowman an open door to surpass him in the standings. Bowman’s misfortune eight laps later put Reddick in.
Reddick continued with his car’s taped-up front end, finishing 21st as one of the last drivers on the lead lap. Though his playoff quest stayed intact, last year’s Regular Season Champion still bemoaned a slumping stretch into the postseason, going seven consecutive races without a top-five result and an average finish of 18.6.
“Story of our year. Just messy, not executing well, just filled with mistakes,” Reddick said. “So yeah, we got very fortunate when the 48 had problems, but yeah, we’ll try and clean it up going into Darlington.”
Bowman’s window to advance by passing Reddick in points closed quickly. He had started second in the 40-car field and fell back to 30th place in six laps, hampered by a low lane that was sluggish to move. He’d rallied back up to 10th when a three-car coming-together involving Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch touched off a sizable tangle through the trioval, clogging the track. Busch’s careening car tagged Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which limped around to a halt.
Bowman radioed his team to ask what had happened, and the response was: “Hard to tell. You can point the finger at three people, like normal.” Bowman’s reply: “Yeah, welcome to Daytona.” Once his crew determined that the damage to the car was irreparable, Bowman was out of the race and the waiting began.
“Yeah, what can you do? It’s a stressful time to be a part of, but I don’t think this really defines us as a race team,” Bowman said, acknowledging the uncertainty after his midrace check at the infield care center. “It’s pretty outside of our control, and we’ve done a lot of good things lately. We had a good summer. That’s the first time in eight years we’ve had a good summer. So yeah, just gotta keep digging.”
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The dizzying scramble of the final laps nearly saved the seasons of Suárez, Haley and Custer.
For Suárez, the opportunity was there to provide a sterling send-off win in what will be his final season with Trackhouse Racing. His No. 99 Chevrolet had solid help in the aerodynamic draft from the No. 43 Toyota of Erik Jones, but said he needed one more lap working with him to keep their top-lane push rolling. His bid ended up just 0.031 seconds short.
“Mixed feelings because I’m proud of all the effort, but we didn’t achieve our goal, but it’s part of it,” said Suárez, who led six laps early on. “We have to continue to push, and we have 10 more opportunities to win a race.”
Haley’s first top-five finish of 2025 came in the 26th race of the year, and his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet pressed hard for the lead after the final restart with eight laps remaining. He lost his momentum when two-wide racing morphed into a three- and four-wide gaggle and wound up just 0.005 seconds back of Suárez, roughly half a car-length behind Blaney’s winning No. 12 Team Penske Ford.
“I mean, with the season we’ve had, just trying to get it back on the rails, and I thought we were close there,” said Haley, who nearly vaulted from 30th in the standings into the postseason. “Just yeah, didn’t pan out.”
Custer nearly made a more impressive jump from 34th in the Cup Series standings onto the 16-driver grid. The Haas Factory Team driver led at the white flag with fellow Ford driver Blaney lined up behind him in the high lane to provide a push. When Custer moved his No. 41 Mustang low to block other advances, Blaney took advantage.
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“Honestly, the last time we were close to winning was here in February. I felt like I drove a better race here,” said Custer, who led seven laps total. “But overall, you just hope that you’re in the mix at the end of these speedway races. We did a great job saving our car, bringing a really good-handling car, and just giving ourselves a shot to win at the end. Definitely going to be kicking myself at what I could have done different.”
Non-winners led 12 of the last 13 laps. Only Blaney’s last-lap pass saved the day for Bowman.
Word of his seven-million-beer offer eventually made its way to Blaney, who said he’d settle for less.
“I do need a refill if he’s still here,” Blaney said. “I can start with one.”