AP Top News｜瑞安·布莱尼（Ryan Blaney）在戴托纳站夺冠并连续六次跻身前十后，成为NASCAR赛场上最炙手可热的车手

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Ryan Blaney parked his car against the high-banked outside wall at Daytona International Speedway and floored it, spinning his rear tires and sending plumes of smoke into the grandstands as fireworks lit up the sky.

It was a unusual celebration for the Team Penske star he doesnt usually do celebratory burnouts and it might be the first of many down the stretch this year.

Blaney closed NASCARs regular season with a flurry, winning at Daytona and moving into fourth place in the Cup Series points heading into the playoffs . He will open the postseason next week at Darlington Raceway three points behind Denny Hamlin and six shy of co-leaders William Byron and Kyle Larson.

And Blaney might just be the favorite to win it all, especially considering his past and his present. The 31-year-old Blaney notched his sixth consecutive top-10 finish with the Daytona victory, making him the series hottest driver.

I think it speaks volumes to how good we have been when weve finished races, Blaney said, recalling seven events in which he either crashed or had engine trouble. Id say half those DNFs (Did Not Finish), we had a good chance of winning the race or at least running top five.

It just shows that weve been running good through the races and the stages and maybe not gotten the finishes we deserved. But its been nice to have the last month and a half kind of be just smooth and for us to finish like I feel like where we should finish.

This one was the most dramatic by far. Blaney made up 12 spots over the final two laps to beat Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley and Cole Custer in a four-wide finish. The come-from-behind victory kept all three of those contenders out of the playoffs and locked Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports into the 16-car field.

Bowman said afterward he owes Blaney 7 million beers.

Oh, Ill take 5 million, Blaney quipped while holding a half-empty red plastic cup between his legs. Ill save him some money. Ill take that offer. I do need a refill if hes still here. I can start with one.

Given how Blaney and Team Penske have performed in the playoffs over the last three years C the powerhouse team has won three in a row, with Joey Loganos two titles sandwiched around Blaneys 2023 championship C no one should be surprised to see him swigging alcohol in victory lane after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway in November.

Blaney finished first or second four times over the final six races in 2023 to claim his first Cup championship. He was equally stout the following year, finishing second, first and second in the final three events and got edged by Logano in the finale.

Even in 2022, when Blaney finished eighth in the standings, he had four top-five finishes in his last seven starts.

Hes pretty special, said Blaneys crew chief, Jonathan Hassler. We just needed a little bit of things to go our way to get it across the finish line. But hes there every week.

Blaneys parents were on hand for the race, a rarity this season and even more surprising that they came to Daytona, where the action is intense and the accidents can be harrowing.

Dad hates speedway racing. He hates watching it, the younger Blaney said. My mom is a nervous wreck the whole time. Im like, Just stay home. They just pace and pace and pace. But its fortunate that we were able to pull one out, so it was good to see him in victory lane.

Blaney treated them and everyone else inside the famed track to a smoke show. Why? Well, he ended an 11-race winless skid for Ford, had several sponsors in town for the weekend and delivered one of the events more improbable endings.

I was fired up, man, Blaney said. Whenever you win at these speedways, it pumps you up. Its so cool to win here, and it was a big night. It was a lot of things culminating, and I thought it deserved (a burnout).

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AP auto racing:

美联社佛罗里达州代托纳比奇电 —— 瑞安·布莱尼将赛车紧贴代托纳国际赛道高倾角外墙停驻，随后猛踩油门，后轮空转激起阵阵浓烟涌向看台，与此同时烟花点亮了夜空。

对于潘世奇车队的明星车手而言，这是一次非比寻常的庆祝——他通常不会用烧胎的方式庆祝胜利——而这可能只是今年赛季尾声阶段众多庆祝中的第一次。

布莱尼以强势表现结束NASCAR常规赛，在代托纳站夺冠后，其杯赛积分榜排名升至第四位，顺利晋级季后赛。他将于下周在达灵顿赛道开启季后赛征程，目前落后丹尼·哈姆林3分，与并列榜首的威廉·拜伦和凯尔·拉森相差6分。

考虑到布莱尼的过往表现和当前状态，他很可能成为夺冠的最大热门。这位31岁的车手在戴托纳站夺冠后，已连续六次跻身前十，成为该系列赛最炙手可热的选手。

布雷尼（Blaney）在回忆七次因撞车或引擎故障退赛的经历时表示："我认为这充分说明了我们完赛时的出色表现。那些未能完赛的场次中，至少有一半我们本有机会夺冠，或至少跻身前五。"

这表明我们在整个赛季和各个阶段的表现一直不错，只是可能没有得到应得的名次。但过去一个半月一切顺利，我们最终取得了我认为应该取得的成绩，这种感觉很棒。

这是迄今为止最戏剧性的一幕。布兰尼在最后两圈连超12个位置，以四车并排冲线的惊险方式击败了丹尼尔·苏亚雷斯、贾斯汀·哈利和科尔·卡斯特。这场逆转胜利使得这三位竞争者全部无缘季后赛，同时确保了亨德里克赛车运动队的亚历克斯·鲍曼锁定16强席位。

鲍曼事后表示，他欠布莱尼700万杯啤酒。

“噢，我要500万就行，”布莱尼（Blaney）打趣道，一边将半空的红色塑料杯夹在双腿之间。“我给他省点钱。这个报价我接受了。如果他还在的话，我确实需要续杯。可以先来一杯。”

考虑到布莱尼（Blaney）和潘世奇车队（Team Penske）过去三年在季后赛中的表现——这支劲旅已连续三次夺冠，乔伊·洛加诺（Joey Logano）的两度折桂与布莱尼2023年的冠军头衔交相辉映——若11月凤凰城赛道（Phoenix Raceway）赛季收官战后，看到他手捧香槟在胜利车道畅饮，恐怕无人会感到意外。

布莱尼在2023赛季最后六场比赛中四次斩获冠亚军，最终夺得个人首个杯赛总冠军。次年他表现同样强势，在最后三场赛事中分别取得亚军、冠军和亚军，但总决赛中以微弱劣势惜败于洛加诺。

即便在2022年，当布莱尼（Blaney）以排名第八的成绩收官时，他仍在最后七场比赛中四次跻身前五。

"他非常特别，"布莱尼的车队主管乔纳森·哈斯勒说道，"我们只需要一点点运气就能冲过终点线。而他每周都在那里全力以赴。"

布莱尼的父母亲临现场观赛，这在本赛季实属罕见；更令人意外的是他们来到了代托纳——这里赛事激烈，撞车事故可能触目惊心。

小布莱尼说道：'父亲讨厌高速赛车运动，连观看都让他难以忍受。母亲全程都紧张得坐立不安，我总劝她‘干脆别来现场’。他们不停地来回踱步，一刻都停不下来。但幸运的是我们最终赢得了比赛，能在冠军通道见到他真是太好了。'

布莱尼（Blaney）为著名赛道内的观众及其他所有人献上了一场烟雾表演。为何如此？因为他终结了福特车队连续11场不胜的颓势，恰逢多位赞助商周末到场观赛，更缔造了本届赛事最出人意料的结局之一。

“我太兴奋了，伙计，”布莱尼说道。“每当你在这些高速赛道上获胜，都会让你充满斗志。在这里取胜真是太棒了，这是个重要的夜晚。这是许多事情积累的结果，我认为值得（来个烧胎庆祝）。”

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