WATCH: A Heartfelt Gesture by Ryan Blaney After His Daytona Win

Published 08/30/2021, 5:24 AM EDT

At the Daytona International Speedway, Ryan Blaney snatched a second consecutive win. This rocketed him all the way up to 2nd in the championship standings. After he won at the speedway, Blaney celebrated with the crowd with a Victory Lap. Then, he elected to pull over and collect the chequered flag and gift it to a young fan.

This isn’t the first time the Team Penske driver brought the fans in on the action. Back in March, when he won at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, he performed the same parlor trick for the fans. Needless to say, they all appreciated the gesture, and it definitely won him many more fans. He also did it again in 2018 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, as per an unexpected invitation from a local family.

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As a result, 4-year-old Payton Brockmiller had a memorable first NASCAR race weekend. The child was likely over the moon when race-winner Blaney handed over the checkered flag and offered a fist-bump as well as a thumbs-up.

How did Ryan Blaney perform in the race?

The #12 driver was supposed to start the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from sixth on the grid. However, pole-sitter Kyle Larson’s penalty dropped the Hendrick man to the back of the grid and promoted Blaney to fifth. From there, it was simply a matter of getting his strategy right and staying clean.

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With this victory, Ryan Blaney more than secured his status in the championship battle ahead of the playoffs next week. It is also worth mentioning that this race at the Daytona International Speedway was chaotic. There were a few accidents, some of which involved multiple cars being taken out.

Luckily, the Team Penske driver was among the lucky few to expertly dodge them and continue racing. The last multi-car crash even threatened to knock out Blaney himself, but he lucked out. In the end, he placed himself in a very strong position for next weekend’s playoffs.

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Of course, even though he is a massive threat to Kyle Larson, Blaney himself will have to watch his back on the track. This is because, he cannot afford to write off his other rivals for the Cup Series title, and anything can happen.

WATCH: Ryan Blaney Earns a ‘Fan for Life’ With Amazing Gesture After NASCAR Cup Win at Atlanta

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.