UP FRONT EARLY, BUT MID-RACE WRECKS DASHES DAYTONA RUN

Ryan Blaney logged a pair of top-five stage finishes in the 68th running of the Daytona 500 Sunday afternoon but was involved in a multi-car incident on the final lap, relegating the No. 12 Menards/Peak Ford Mustang Dark Horse to a 27th-place finish. After starting from the inside of row three, the No. 12 team was able to take advantage of an early caution to stretch their fuel mileage to the end of the opening stage while a majority of the field was forced to pit prior to the end of the segment on lap 65, resulting in a third-place effort. Following the first four tire stop of the day, Blaney assumed the lead prior to the start of Stage 2 after several teams opted to top off on fuel before taking the green. While running third on lap 124, a stack up between the leaders set off a 17-car incident in the tri-oval, but Blaney was able to get by with minimal nose damage as Stage 2 came to an end under caution with the Menards/Peak Ford scored second. The No. 12 team had an extended stop on pit road to assess the damage prior to the restart, relegating Blaney to 22nd in the running order as he took the green with 66 laps remaining. The field formed three-wide to begin the run as Blaney found himself trapped seventh in line in the top lane, but began to cycle his way forward as the final green flag pit cycle began with 20 laps to go. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler called Blaney to pit road with 12 to go and got back up to speed as the lead pack reached him entering turn three. Despite losing a bit of track position in the process, a caution with nine laps remaining reset the field for one final restart with four to go. Blaney took the green from 18th in the running order as he began his final opportunity to charge to the front, but ultimately was collected in a multi-car wreck at the entrance to turn one on the white flag lap as he was unable to make it back around to take the checkered.