Stage 1 crash derails Ryan Blaney at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — A lap 71 crash in the NASCAR Cup Series’ South Point 400 ended Ryan Blaney’s bid for a Las Vegas victory.
While racing for 12th, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford appeared to cut a left-front tire, sending his racecar into the outside wall in turn four.
Blaney said he had no warning about his tire going down.
“I didn’t have any thoughts that it was going to blow,” Blaney said. “As soon as I lifted into three, it blew out.”
Blaney completed 70 laps and was the first driver to pull behind the wall, finishing 38th.
Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, entered the race with a six-point advantage on the cutline. He ranked second overall. He is now well below the cutline, in eighth.
Huge playoff implications on Lap 72! @Blaney has trouble and gets into the wall. pic.twitter.com/MoCg5bEGHx
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 12, 2025
However, the next two races in the Round of 8 — Talladega and Martinsville — are both tracks Blaney has won at before.
“We’ll have to come from behind like we did last year,” Blaney said. “Hopefully, we can win one of the next two weeks. We just can’t have a smooth day it seems like.”
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.