Ryan Blaney Blasts Toyota ‘Roadblock’ Tactics After Daytona 500 Chaos

Team Penske Racing veteran Ryan Blaney has shared his thoughts on the chaotic fuel saving tactics in the 2026 Daytona 500.

Ryan Blaney Blasts Toyota ‘Roadblock’ Tactics After Daytona 500 Chaos

Ryan Blaney (Via IMAGO)

The 2026 Daytona 500 was a dramatic event that saw drivers giving everything to secure the maiden win under new championship format, after a chaotic off-season. Ironically it was 23XI Racing, who was in the middle of the pre-season controverses, that secured the race win as Tyler Reddick produced a solid run to give owner Michael Jordan the perfect birthday gift.

Not everyone was happy with Toyota’s win and that include Team Penske Racing’s Ryan Blaney. He was not happy with the tactics that employed by the team after the stage two caution. The youngster found himself in the back of the field after a pit-stop and according to the 2023 champion they were deliberately running slow.

52-second laps from the TRD cars were part of their fuel saving strategy. It wasn’t the Toyota cars, all the other teams were employing the move, as nowadays fuel saving has become more significant than ever. Blaney has always been against such tactics and is now demanding the sanctioning body to fix the issue sooner than later.

Spent some time fixing our car after the Stage 2 caution. Then we started at the back and just got trapped with the Toyotas running 52-second laps and road-blocking the whole thing… We gotta fix that. It’s pretty bad.

Ryan Blaney told Toby Christie via X.

Denny Hamlin and Billy Scott shared his thoughts on Ryan Blaney’s comments

Though majority of the racing community wants the issue to fixed, they know it isn’t easy. JGR veteran Denny Hamlin sees way to solve the issue. He wants NASCAR to move the Clash to Daytona and allow teams to come up with a race car package that would end the need for fuel saving tactics.

Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin
Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin (Via @DAYTONA/X and IMAGO)

One of the suggestions that we talked about just a few days ago is to come here next year in the Clash. Let a few of us come up with a package that we think you won’t see any fuel saving, you’re just going to see people hanging on. That would be the only fix.

Denny Hamlin said.

The Daytona 500 champion crew chief Billy Scott also shared his thoughts on the situation. He admitted that there might not be fix for the issue, as teams always actively finding new ways to exploit the rule book and get an advantage on the track.

I doubt there’s a fix to it because we’re just going to figure out the next way to exploit it, and I don’t know that it needs to be fixed. I think we all, as competitors, are spending as much time trying to figure out what the next best thing is and how to combat what the other is doing. I mean, I think it would be like asking if you need to change how chess is played.

Billy Scott asserted.

The No:45 crew chief does have a solid point, as NASCAR would only get into a cycle of fixing lope holes the teams will use every year. It would be interesting to see how the fuel saving debate is going to playout in the coming days.

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