Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney looked poised for victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, securing a stage one win and finishing third in stage two.
After leading 124 of the first 207 laps in the 267-lap Straight Talk Wireless 400 at the 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead, Florida track, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford suffered an engine failure, forcing him to retire in 36th place.
Mechanical reliability has been a recurring problem for Blaney’s team this season, as this marks their second engine-related failure in the past three races. Two weeks earlier, another engine failure ended their race early at Phoenix Raceway.
With this latest DNF (Did Not Finish), Blaney has now failed to complete three consecutive races, something that has never happened before in his decade-long full-time Cup Series career. Previously, he had never recorded more than two DNFs in a row.
Despite only finishing half of the season’s first six races, Blaney still sits 10th in the point standings, thanks to the stage wins and other points he has collected before the checkered flag. His last official race finish was a 19th-place result at Circuit of the Americas four races ago.
Blaney had led the standings after a strong start to the season, finishing seventh in the Daytona 500 and then following it up with a fourth-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is Martinsville Speedway, where Blaney is the defending race winner. The Cook Out 400 will air live on Fox Sports 1 at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 30. Fans can catch the action by starting a free trial of FuboTV.
