Ryan Blaney accepts Cup Series rival's seven-figure offer

Ryan Blaney has responded to a NASCAR Cup Series rival's offer to buy him 'seven million beers' after Saturday's key race at Daytona.

Alex Bowman got caught in a big wreck early on to ruin his night, leaving him sat watching the remaining 120 laps of the race unfold from his team's hauler, praying that a driver who was already locked into the playoffs would claim the win and punch his own playoff ticket.

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Ryan Blaney did just that to save the No. 48's season, beating out four non-playoff teams into 2-5th place to ensure that nobody could win-and-in to ruin Bowman's night.

Bowman said after the race that he owed Blaney 'seven million beers' after the race for saving his year, an offer which the Team Penske driver has now responded to.

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Blaney takes Bowman up on beer offer

"Oh, I’ll take 5 million," Blaney joked. "I’ll save him some money. Someone told me that he got in because I won. Like if the 41, the 7, 99 would have won, he would have been out. I’ll take that offer.

"I do need a refill if he’s still here. I can start with one."

The Athletic's Jordan Bianchi spent Saturday's race around Bowman's hauler to see he and his team's reactions, revealing that the team spent some of the time relieving tension by telling jokes and working on an elaborate prank they're setting up, although the levity began to fade as the race went on.

“We were talking about dumb stuff," Bowman said, "trying to (lighten) the mood. And then that last restart happened, and it was like, ‘Holy cow, we’re in a really terrible situation right now'.”

He added: “That last lap was rough. It’s not a good time to be me. I don’t want to let my team down. They’ve worked really hard; they’ve done a lot of really good things. The situation that we’re in coming here, it’s (been) tough, and we crash – something that’s outside of our control. Then you just have to sit and watch.”

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