By David Morgan, Associate Editor
Lady Luck was once again not on the side of Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske Ford at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after an early exit from Sunday’s South Point 400.
Entering the day with an eight-point advantage to start the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the 2023 series champion was hoping to have a reversal of fortunes on the 1.5-mile oval, but it was not to be when a blown tire sent him into the outside wall in Turn 4 on Lap 72.
As a result, Blaney will be credited with a last place finish on the day, dropping him to the bottom of the Playoff standings and continuing a string of sub-30th place finishes at the track located just north of Sin City.
In this race one year ago, Blaney finished in 32nd and in the spring race this year, crashed out with a 35th place finish.
Huge playoff implications on Lap 72! @Blaney has trouble and gets into the wall. pic.twitter.com/MoCg5bEGHx
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 12, 2025
“I didn’t have any thoughts that it was gonna blow. As soon as I lifted into three it blew out,” Blaney said after being evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center.
“I’m not overjoyed; I tell you that. We’ll have to come from behind like we did last year. Hopefully, we can win one of the next two weeks. We just can’t have a smooth day it seems like.”
Now in must-win territory, Blaney will likely need a win at either Talladega or Martinsville in the next two weeks to make another Championship 4 appearance. Both tracks that he has won on previously.
Blaney has scored three wins at Talladega, most recently in 2023 en route to the championship, but will need to turn around his luck on the 2.66-mile superspeedway with finishes of 20th, 39th, and 37th in the last three races there.
Martinsville has been kinder to Blaney, with his two wins on the half-mile short track coming in the Fall race the last two seasons to punch his ticket to the Championship 4.
“You’ve got to be optimistic,” Blaney said of the task ahead of he and his team. “I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race.
“We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today.”
