Ryan Blaney responds to Alex Bowman's promise of "seven million beers" with counter-offer

Ryan Blaney's win in the NASCAR Cup regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway secured Alex Bowman's spot in the playoffs. Following the race, the Hendrick Motorsports driver joked that he owed Blaney "seven million beers". The driver responded a counter-offer.

Heading into the race, both Bowman and 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick were in the playoff picture on points, meaning if a new race winner took the victory, they could lose their spots. Bowman retired from the race after getting caught up in a wreck on lap 27 of 160, leaving him tensely watching on.

Blaney, who had already clinched his spot in the playoffs with a win in Nashville in June, ultimately won the race, meaning Bowman will progress to the Round of 16.

When asked what he owes Blaney after the race, Bowman said, "seven million beers."

"I hate the way the first run went," Bowman explained to the media after the wreck. "It seemed like the bottom lane just dissolved behind us, and we tanked, but obviously we had gotten a lot of track position back.

"We drove back up there to the back half of the top 10 or whatever and yeah, then just nothing you can do, welcome to superspeedway racing, unfortunately, so really proud of my 48 team for the year up to this point we’ve had.

"The last 10 or 11 weeks have been pretty special and we haven’t won so we’re in a tough spot for the rest of the night, but regardless of the outcome, I feel like it’s out of our control and kind of is what it is at this point.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: Chris Graythen - Getty Images

"So we’ll wait and see how the race ends up and kind of go from there. And regardless, we’re going to be hitting hard the next 10 weeks and trying to get a win, whether we’re in the playoffs or not.

"While I have certainly stayed off social media, I’m going to sit in front of a TV and watch. But yeah, bummed for Hendrick Motorsports and everybody that worked so hard to not have a shot at it here tonight. But it was going to be tough, whether we were in it or out of it.

"And unfortunately, we’re on the sidelines watching. And we’re going to find out here in a couple hours."

Blaney was asked about the offer and he jokingly accepted: "I’ll save him some money and take five million," Blaney joked. "I’ll take that offer."