New competition package remains a mystery to NASCAR Cup drivers
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — At Daytona International Speedway this weekend, there’s a bigger mystery than which drivers will secure the final three positions in the Chase.
The greater unknown is how the NASCAR Cup Series cars will behave with a new, untried competition package that features reductions in both horsepower and downforce.
The engines in the Cup cars will generate roughly 465 horsepower, down approximately 45 horsepower from the car Tyler Reddick drove to victory in the season-opening DAYTONA 500.
The seven-inch spoiler has been trimmed to four inches, thus reducing both downforce and drag.
With no practice and single-car qualifying planned for the weekend, drivers won’t learn what to expect from the new package until they start drafting in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the 2.5-mile superspeedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“It might look the exact same; it might be totally different,” said Chase Briscoe, who is sixth in the series standings. “I don’t know. I honestly have no guess. I think we’re still going to see drafting, for sure, but outside of that, I don’t know. (The cars) could be extremely loose. They could be out of control where the field’s spread out a little bit more, but I could also see us going there and it being the exact same.
“I think they’re going to definitely be harder to drive. You’re going to see more guys have issues, probably in the pack, especially off of Turn 4 where you always see issues—we haven’t had that as much with the Next Gen car. You’ll probably see more ‘moments,’ but up front, I don’t know if it’ll change that much.”
Series leader Denny Hamlin thinks the new package will make a difference in race traffic, but the specifics are elusive.
“It’s going to change a lot,” said Hamlin, who will start the Chase as the top seed after clinching that position last Sunday at New Hampshire. “Talking to our aero guys, we think it’s going to be a significant change in traffic.
“I don’t know. I’m going to learn with the rest of them, but it sounds like it’s going to be something we’re going to notice in the car.”
Austin Hill, announced this week as the full-time driver of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 Chevrolet next year, has found a reason for optimism as he tries to win his first Cup race.
‘You’re going to have guys that are fully trimmed out for just straight raw speed, and you’re going to have guys that are full downforce and want to have a lot of balance in their car,” Hill said. “We’re not going to know until that green flag drops on Saturday night what’s going to be the right-case scenario.
“The only thing I am a little bit excited about with the Cup package is that from everything that I’ve been told and all of the data that I’ve gotten from GM, it seems to be as close as it can get to the O’Reilly side, and that makes me really excited. So, I’m hoping that’s how it all is. But until the green flag drops, none of us are really going to know.”
If the new package approximates the O’Reilly cars, Hill may have reason to celebrate. He has won four times at Daytona in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where 11 of his 16 career victories have come on drafting tracks.
Daniel Suarez is ready to react with baby on the way
Daniel Suarez and wife Julia Piquet are expecting their first child—at any moment.
“I think it’s considered already full term because we are getting into 38 weeks, so it can happen anytime,” Suarez acknowledged Friday at Daytona International Speedway. “She can call me right now and say, ‘Hey, you have to come back.’ We’ll see how things happen. Hopefully, things work out for me to be there.”
Suarez is fully prepared for the new arrival, at least from the standpoint of logistics.
“It’s funny you ask that question because we were just talking that last night, I had my official hospital tour, and I’m ready to drive as quick as possible, whenever the moment presents,” Suarez said.
“Hopefully, I’m home for that. I already know which floor I have to go, where I can park, where I’m going to chill, where I’m going to stress. I had an hour-and-a-half tour last night.”
Suarez said he was prepared to skip qualifying at Daytona if the call should happen to come on Friday.
“Any other weekend, I don’t think that would be the case, especially being in the Chase,” said Suarez, who already is locked into the postseason. “If it’s Saturday or Sunday, I think it’s going to be tough. Julia and I, we already had a conversation, but hopefully it’s a Monday-through-Friday baby.”
Ryan Preece is fighting to make two separate Chases
Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Ryan Preece is 31 points behind 16th-place Shane van Gisbergen in the race for one of the final three spots in the Chase for the drivers’ championship.
In the Chase for the owners’ title, Preece’s No. 60 Ford is just six points behind van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.
The difference? A 25-point penalty Preece drew for a wreck that ended Ty Gibbs’ race at Texas Motor Speedway in May. A contributing factor was Preece’s vow on the team radio, “When I get to that 54, I’m done with him,” after Gibbs passed him with an aggressive move to the inside in Turn 1.
RFK Racing appealed the penalty but lost the appeal on a split 2-1 decision. That leaves Preece in an unusual situation. He could qualify for the owners’ Chase and miss out on the drivers’ championship.
His approach to Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, however, is simple.
“For me, when I come into this weekend, I just think about trying to win stages and win the race.” Preece said. “That, ultimately, no matter what situation it is, we would get our way into the playoffs, so, selfishly, I’d like to be in on the driver’s side, but I am fully aware, and I’ve been in the car owner points race before.
“Ultimately, I would love to get both in. I completely understand the situation and know that having a great day will get us in on the owner’s side, but the goal going into it before everything starts is to try and do both. There are a lot of unknowns right now, so just trying to be as prepared as possible.”
Against the odds, Shane van Gisbergen has made a statement on oval tracks
After his second victory of the 2026 season—at Sonoma Raceway in late June—Shane van Gisbergen was 36 points above the cut line for the Chase.
Practitioners of conventional wisdom deemed it unlikely for the New Zealander to stay there, given that eight oval tracks remained in the regular season, and given that among NASCAR Cup Series drivers, van Gisbergen had far less experience on ovals than any of his peers.
Nevertheless, with only Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 left in the regular season, SVG remains 31 points ahead of 17th-place Ryan Preece, with a realistic possibility of making the Chase.
Van Gisbergen is justifiably proud of the accomplishment.
“I think pride’s a good word, yeah,” he said. “I think we’ve really improved this year. It’s been great to match my teammates (Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch) on ovals…
“I thought, leaving the West Coast, we had a really painful San Diego. We should have had a 40-50 point day, and we had a two-point day or something. That was very painful. Pretty pumped that we’ve been able to keep that gap (in points) and to relatively hold it at that level since Sonoma has been really, really cool.”
— NASCAR News Wire —