Team Penske's Ryan Blaney appeared to be on his way to winning Sunday afternoon's NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, winning stage one and placing third in stage two.
But after leading 124 of the first 207 laps of the 267-lap Straight Talk Wireless 400 at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead, Florida oval, the engine in his No. 12 Ford expired, resulting in a 36th place DNF.
Reliability, specifically the lack thereof, has been an issue for Blaney and the No. 12 team this year, as this marks their second engine failure in the three most recent races. They were also knocked out of the race at Phoenix Raceway with an engine failure two weeks prior.
And at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in the race in between, Blaney was taken out in a crash.
As a result, Sunday's DNF is Blaney's third in a row. He had never previously recorded more than two DNFs in a row throughout his 10-year career as a full-time Cup Series driver.
Even with just three finishes in six races, Blaney finds himself in 10th place in the point standings, largely thanks to his two stage wins and the points he has accrued before the checkered flag. He hasn't actually finished a race since placing 19th at Circuit of the Americas four races ago.
Blaney led the point standings after his seventh place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and he maintained the lead after a fourth place finish in the following weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The seventh place on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is scheduled to take place at a track where Blaney is the most recent winner: Martinsville Speedway. The Cook Out 400 is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from "The Paperclip" beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 30, so be sure to start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action!