Second Engine Detonation in Three Races Plagues Blaney at Homestead

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer

Team Penske’s uncharacteristic woes continued in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and once again, it affected Ryan Blaney.

In a situation that’s mirroring a Ryan Newman’s 2003 season, who coincidentally drove the No. 12 Penske machine, Blaney has shown some strong pace already this season, but engine woes curtailed any possibility of a strong result.

It couldn’t have come at worse period as Blaney was the class of the field throughout the 267-lap race after winning Stage 1 and led a race-high 124 laps.

However, it went down south after a second engine failure in three races ended Blaney’s shot at a win with 60 laps remaining.

Prior to the engine expiring, Blaney was running third after overcoming a pit lane incident when Chase Elliott squeezed Blaney that led to some contact between the two drivers.

After the contact, Blaney was concerned about how damaged the left rear of his No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse which dropped him six spots and felt that Elliott slammed him.

Contact on pit road between Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott! #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/VCqjMYU6ud

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 23, 2025

Once the race resumed, Blaney was working his way back up to the top-five, but without warning, the engine let go and was frustrated of seeing a possible victory slip away.

“I’m f—ing blowing up or something,” Blaney exclaimed over the radio. “You have got to be s—-ing me. Oh my God! Sorry fellas.”

Adding insult to injury, it’s the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Blaney hasn’t seen the checkered flag in three consecutive races.

This was a result of an engine failure at Phoenix, a crash at Las Vegas and now another engine detonated at Homestead.

Ryan Blaney's engine just exploded. That's the second engine failure of the year for the No. 12 team. #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/UyRwsOXkw7

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 23, 2025

Blaney said he was looking forward of battling for the win with the likes of Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace, but with a 36th place finish, we’ll never know if it would’ve come into fruition.

“It just laid over when I got back to wide-open down the front and that was all she wrote.  It just stinks,” said Blaney. “We had a really fast Dent Wizard Ford Mustang. We led a lot of laps. We lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road, but got back to third and it was a great race between me and Bubba and Larson. I’m sure Denny (Hamlin) was gonna get back into it.

“It was gonna be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so, but it just didn’t really work out for us.  We’ll continue to keep fighting.”

Blaney apologized over the radio to his No. 12 team but assured them their efforts are appreciated in large part of having a competitive car. After exiting his car, the sentiment remained the same regarding how confident he still is on the organization despite their current slump.

“I appreciate the 12 guys for just giving me a hot rod.  It was an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today,” Blaney commented. “We’ll keep our heads up. It’s just one of those things where it’s not really going our way right now, but the good news is we’re bringing fast cars and that’s all you can ask for. We’ll keep on moving.”