In one of the most dramatic regular season endings imaginable, coming at a track – Daytona International Speedway – that perpetually delivers that kind of drama – Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Ryan Preece and his No. 60 Ford team did everything they needed to do – and could do – to earn the final 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship chance.
On the last lap of an overtime restart, the 35-year-old Preece pulled away from the field in a three-wide pass with cars spinning out alongside and behind him while he went on to take his first career win in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. The victory moved him from being the first driver outside the championship top-16 entering the race, to the team celebrating mightily in the sport’s most famous Victory Lane after the race – and now in position for Preece’s first career title run.
“I’m just speechless right now,” the Connecticut-native conceded with a wide smile. “But those guys, that 60 group, we’re fighters. When you put our back against the wall, we swing hard. So, thank you to [our sponsors], thank you to RFK, Jack Roush, the Fenway Group. Brad Keselowski.
“Last year there were a lot of keyboard warriors saying I was nothing. Well, we just kicked their butts tonight.”
Preece’s final lap heroics – and two separate incidents behind him on track – were enough to propel him to the first NASCAR Cup Series points-paying victory of his career at exactly the time he could use it most. His effort eliminated a two-race winner, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen from the 16th and final Chase position after Van Gisbergen finished 27th Saturday in the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet – collected in one of the two final lap crashes.
Joining Preece in that 10-race championship portion of the season will also be Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who finished sixth Saturday night to claim the other of the two Chase positions to be decided at Daytona. His effort in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford was enough to maintain his 15th place in the standings, and he will start the Chase ranked just ahead of Preece.
It was perhaps a stunning outcome for Van Gisbergen, who earned the Stage 1 victory Saturday – his first ever oval course stage win. He had two previous race victories on the season helping him to a 31-point advantage on Preece coming into the race.
“Congrats to the 60 [Preece], but one night doesn’t sum up our year,” Van Gisbergen said. “I guess we haven’t been good enough. It’s been cool to be close. Shame we’re not in it.
“I’m proud I’ve been able to match my teammates on the ovals, I think we stepped up this year, but obviously you want to be in that Chase and didn’t make it,’ the former multi-time Australian Supercars Series champion Van Gisbergen said.
Cindric qualified eighth for the race and his effort Saturday night delivered his fourth Chase run in the last five years.
“Obviously, we had a strong Ford Mustang,” the 27-year-old Cindric aid. “We were able to get to the front when we needed to at times. I hate we weren’t able to capitalize and lead as many laps as we did in stage two to give ourselves a larger buffer for the final stage, but the guys did a great job of keeping me informed with what I needed to do to keep ourselves out front and get back to the front. Everything we needed to do we checked the boxes tonight.”
Cindric added that despite the final-laps drama, he didn’t necessarily find the race as nerve-wracking as some may have anticipated. He finished 10th in the opening Stage to earn bonus points and a reasonable 13th in Stage 2. He restarted sixth for the two-lap overtime run.
“Honestly, less [dramatic] than you’d think,” Cindric said. “I think there’s a lot of variables and I don’t mean to downplay it, but there were certainly a lot of variables going into the night. We weren’t all on top of each other, so I felt like in a lot of ways it was somewhat more simplified of how the race was gonna play out after I was able to watch and observe.
“I thought our car was good enough to charge back through when needed and obviously we got ourselves in position. The guys did a great job of giving me information all night, whether it was points or fuel and how to adapt. That’s what it takes to be a contender at a minimum, but definitely look for a strong 10 weeks from us.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, a four-race winner, claimed his first ever No. 1 seed in the Chase to earn a 25-point bonus atop the standings heading into the Chase opener, the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway next Sunday. He was 11th at Daytona.
Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champion, is ranked second behind Hamlin, involved in that overtime crash. The season’s winningest driver to date – 23XI Racing’s five-race champ Tyler Reddick was able to move into third place in the Chase rankings with a third-place finish Saturday.
JGR teammates Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell are ranked fourth through sixth heading into the Chase with Hendrick Motorsports teammates, reigning series champion Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott seventh and eighth in the standings.
Penske’s Joey Logano will start his quest for a fourth title ranked ninth, followed by Preece’s RFK teammate Chris Buescher in 10th. Spire Motorsports teammates Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar are 11th and 12th with Hendrick’s William Byron, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, Cindric and Preece rounding out the Chase eligible.
I’m just so thankful,” repeated Preece, who had maintained all week he was sure the team would win at Daytona even though he had never won in 248 previous series starts.
And he did.
— NASCAR News Wire —