Ryan Blaney won at Daytona this past weekend, meaning a first-time winner in 2025 wouldn’t bump a driver on the bubble out of the playoffs during the final week of the regular season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Denny Hamlin was thankful.
He thought the racing was phenomenal at Daytona, but a different winner would’ve changed the narrative. Blaney’s victory kept the main thing the main thing, and the playoffs more competitive than ever.
“We’ve been talking about the playoffs — the whole playoffs and the format. Ryan Blaney was out here doing God’s work,” Hamlin claimed, via his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I mean, everyone he was racing was like 30th in points. How different would the narrative have been if Cole [Custer] or Justin [Haley] had won versus Blaney? I mean, we’re talking about how great the racing was, and it was.
“We’re critical most times on this podcast, but we also got to give it to do when the racing was good. At the end of that race, it was good racing. But it’s just — oh man, we were one more big underdog away from fans just going absolutely berserk.”
Alas, Hamlin does make some salient points, as we could’ve had another Harrison Burton situation on our hands. Instead, this past weekend’s race at Daytona can be remembered simply for being an awesome event, due to Blaney already having one win on the year.
He’s developed into a hell of a super-speedway racer in his career, rivaling Hamlin’s own greatness at the medium. Later, the veteran wheelman explained what makes the Team Penske driver great at tracks like Daytona.
“Where Blaney was impressive was using his skillset to know (to) push them out and then let them make a decision, and then (he’ll) figure out whether that decision is the right one or not,” Hamlin added. “I might go with you, I might not. So, that’s where I found I got, you know, much better at super-speedway racing, you know, 10, 15 years ago.
“Not necessarily having to be the one to make the move, but pushing someone else to make them make a choice. Then, you have time to process whether that choice was right or not.”
Denny Hamlin delivered Ryan Blaney his flowers this weekend, but when the playoffs start, there will be no love between the two. Remember, the No. 12 Ford wheelman has a championship. Hamlin doesn’t.
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