Ryan Blaney had what was arguably the fastest car in Sunday’s (April 6) Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, but we’ll never know what he could’ve done at the front of the field in clear air.
He drove the only car that could seemingly make passes with ease at any point in the race, but poorly timed cautions struck every time he came close to sniffing the lead. Racing can be a cruel and unforgiving sport, and it felt as if divine intervention was the only thing that kept Blaney out of victory lane that day.
But for most of the afternoon, Blaney wasn’t the talk of the town. The talk was William Byron, and for more than 80% of the race, he was chasing history. He started on the pole, won both stages and led the first 243 laps — the most consecutive laps led by one driver to start a race since 2000, when Jeff Burton led all 300 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September of that year.
Byron and Blaney were essentially polar opposites of each other. Byron had the best short-run car in the field, the fastest pit crew and the advantage of the first pit stall, all of which — combined with no green flag pit stops — kept him out front and in the lead for 332 consecutive miles.
Blaney, on the other hand, had the best long-run car in the field, one of the slowest pit crews and untimely cautions that kept setting him back anytime he made forward progress. He was also one of the worst cars on restarts, so every caution served as an obstacle, a hurdle for him to navigate.
Blaney started the day by losing five spots down his first trip to pit road. He finished seventh in stage one despite another poor pit stop, and he cracked the top three in the middle of stage two. He pitted early and likely would’ve cycled to the lead, but he got trapped a lap down when a debris caution was called for Brad Keselowski’s loose wheel nut, several laps after it flew off.
The caution was a pivotal moment, as Byron had yet to hit pit road and was going to handedly lose the lead once he did. Instead, the caution kept him out front and in control of the race, while Blaney, Ryan Preece and other frontrunners lost all their track position by pitting early. The No. 12 car took the wave around to restart 13th, and Blaney once again grinded his way back to fourth to end stage two.
Blaney, and to a lesser extent Tyler Reddick, had the only cars good enough to climb through the field after the caution inverted the running order. Preece ran second in the first half of the race, and he became a complete nonfactor once he lost track position. Conversely, Christopher Bell was in danger of getting lapped in stage one but cycled to the top five with the caution and stayed there for the rest of the race with a car that looked like junk in the first 100 laps.
But for all the ground Blaney made up in stage two, he’d have to make it up again in the final stage as he lost 12 spots in an excruciating pit stop that dropped him to 16th to start the final stage.
Meanwhile, Byron quickly pulled a four-second lead at the start of stage three, all while continuing to lead every single lap. And if cautions came out at the right time in the final stage, there is zero doubt in my mind that Byron would’ve led wire-to-wire. His pit crew had been money all day, and he was absolutely unstoppable on restarts.
But the No. 24 team was waiting for a caution that never came. Byron was forced to hit pit road on lap 244, and he was immediately in trouble.
The No. 24 car was terrible on extra-long runs, as the trailing cars quickly caught Byron the moment he encountered lapped traffic. He likely would’ve lost the lead each time but cautions at the end of the first two stages kept him out front before anyone had the chance to pass him.
And by pitting in the middle of the pit cycle, Byron got the worst of both worlds: he lost the lead by pitting too late, and his car wasn’t good enough in traffic for the fresher tires to be an advantage. After looking like he could lead every lap, Byron was suddenly unable to pass Bell, a car that he was trying to lap 150 laps prior. All of that allowed Reddick, who emerged with the lead following the pit cycle, to scoot away.
Now, where did Blaney factor in all of this? He and Denny Hamlin were the last two cars to hit pit road, and Blaney exited pit road with a 17-second deficit to Reddick.
And with the freshest tires in the field and the best long-run car in the race, Blaney charged to the front of the field, blowing by cars like they were standing still. It only took 40 laps for him to erase Reddick’s 17-second lead, and for the first time all day, Blaney took the lead with four to go with no one in sight to challenge him.
Blaney was out front, only for Reddick to hit the wall, causing 165 laps down Kyle Larson to immediately slam on the brakes and get spun toward the inside wall by Bubba Wallace, bringing out a caution just seconds after Blaney took the lead.
More trouble for Larson!
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 6, 2025
We'll have a sprint to the finish! pic.twitter.com/2u6nBr4EOs
Racing is a cruel, cruel sport.
Blaney’s bid was essentially over, as he lost yet another three spots on pit road and came home fifth. Hamlin won the race off pit road from third and comfortably cruised to his second win in a row after being out of the hunt all day.
The final stage was the only time we saw a true long run, and Blaney’s car was the fastest car by a country mile. Like, it was not even close.
Had the final 50 laps in the cup race at Darlington been based on 4th quarter median lap speed data alone, this is roughly where the top 15 fastest cars would've finished on track pic.twitter.com/4caQuB56eW
— Auto Racing Analytics (@AR_Analytics) April 7, 2025
Byron, with the benefit of clean air and a great short-run car, was the fastest car on track for 86 green flag laps. Blaney, despite being buried in traffic the entire race and holding the lead for a whopping five seconds, was the fastest car for 50 laps. No one else in the field had more than 22.
If Blaney had clean air the entire race, there’s no telling how much he could’ve dominated. And for every setback he faced all day, he finally had a long run at the end of the race to shine, only for yet another late caution to rerack the field for yet another two-lap dash to the finish.
Darlington epitomized Blaney’s 2025 season. He’s been one of the fastest drivers all year, only for poor pit stops, crashes and engine failures to take him out of the running with some of the most dominant cars. The speed and the potential are there, but the team hasn’t been able to seal the deal.
If Hamlin has any spare “11 Against the World” flags, he should loan one to Blaney and change the number to 12. There’s arguably no one who deserves one more after the weekend he just had at The Lady in Black.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf