Defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney passed his teammate Austin Cindric off turn 4 on the final lap of Stage 2 to get the stage win and a playoff point. Blaney is in position to win his first Harley J. Earl trophy.
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FOX: NASCAR provided a video of the Stage 2 finish from its X account.
Ryan Blaney wins Stage 2! #NASCAR #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/gplARzQrAV
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 19, 2024
The top 10 finishers in stage 2:
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Cindric
- Daniel Suarez
- Kyle Busch
- Tyler Reddick
- William Byron
- Bubba Wallace
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Chris Buescher
The second stage of the Daytona 500 saw a lot of calm racing as all the drivers and teams planned on saving fuel. Fuel conservation saw two lines of cars around the track at half throttle for the first 45 laps of the stage.
The action did not pick top until the cars hit pit road under the green flag. Contact was made between the No. 42 of John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 of Josh Berry which sent Berry facing backwards in his pit stall.
Justin Haley in the No. 51 car for Rick Ware Racing had to pit a second time under the green flag with fuel pressure issues.
The leader at halfway of the Daytona 500 was Todd Gilliland in the No. 38 for Front Row Motorsports. Gilliland has now led more laps in this race than his whole Cup Series career.
Kyle Busch received a penalty during pit stops under the caution at the end of Stage 1 but managed to recover to lead laps in Stage 2. Busch may have the car to finally win his first Daytona 500. Busch will have to do the same thing again as the lug nut on the left front tire did not get tight. This caused Busch to pit again under the caution and he will start at the rear of the field again.
There were 30 cars on the lead lap at the end of the second stage. Ty Gibbs in the No. 54 car received the lucky dog.
Entering the final stage of the Daytona 500, there are still 37 cars on the racetrack with only three cars out of the race (Burton, Hocevar, Grala).
The final stage of the Daytona may not be very interesting as teams save fuel to try and minimize time on pit road to move up as far to the front as they can for the final run the finish. After the final pit stop, all bets are off and we could be in for a very action packed finish.
