Ryan Preece didn’t hear no bell.
It’s the end of the first stage and the No. 60 went from leading the race with a chance at 10 stage points to sliding across the grass and watching Shane Van Gisbergen win the segment instead.
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Preece stayed in the gas and finished eighth, but it was still a significant swing in points, Preece going from a 31-point deficit to 38 points with three quarters of the race still remaining.
At that point, Preece needed to win and needed SVG to be caught up in a multicar accident, which was probably the odds all along. Preece said repeatedly in the week between Loudon and Daytona that he came to win and was refusing any other outcome.
He won on the final lap when the field was frozen for a crash that involved Van Gisbergen. A full season into a format that abolished win and you’re in and Preece did exactly that. His first points paying victory catapulted him past SVG into the 16th seed.
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Watch: Preece wins in chaotic Daytona finish for first points-paying victory
He’s going to go race for a championship no matter what the odds say about doing it from 16th.
“The job is just beginning,” Preece said. “I feel like momentum is on our side. We’re going to do our best to be a contender and be a part of the battle that Kyle Petty thinks even if you’re 16th in the Chase you can’t be a part of.”
He just erased a 50-point deficit in two races so what’s 100 points over 10?
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“I knew if I go and win, I’m pretty confident we’re going to make it in,” Preece said. “The 20 points (from first to second) is a big deal. As a race car driver, Shane did everything right tonight. He’s a hell of a race car driver. He’s a hell of a road course racer, but he’s a hell of a race car driver.
“He knew that I had my knee on the throat or my thumb on the pressure point, and he answered that in stage one. When he threw that right hook, metaphorically, in a metaphor, I felt like I answered that back in stage two, so…”
He also overcame a 25-point penalty for what NASCAR deemed as an intentional crash of Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway.
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“You’re damn right,” Preece said with a laugh.
It was a bit of a sore subject for Van Gisbergen, who famously doesn’t like the media spotlight anyways, to take questions about a decision from crew chief Stephen Doran to take fuel and tires before the overtime.
The idea was to ensure he wouldn’t run out of fuel and let his driver play offense. Instead, it put him right in the figurative hornet’s nest and got them wrecked out of the Chase for the Championship.
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“They obviously had more information about the situation than I did and maybe I didn’t do a good enough job (saving) early,” Van Gisbergen said. “I was trying. It was conservative but it is what it is.”
Van Gisbergen congratulated Preece said this result wasn’t just about Daytona.
“We didn’t do a good enough job over the year and gave up points at various places,” he said. “We didn’t lose it tonight. It is what it is.”
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But again, SVG had Preece down after that first stage, even if he wasn’t out.
“If I was in a street fight, my knuckles would be pretty tore up right now,” Preece said. “I knew when we drove through the grass, and Shane went and won that stage, he was doing everything it took. It was much like what I told you, it was going to be a heavyweight fight. That was the first round. Lucky for me there was two more. I answered that call. I went and we got second in the next stage with damage. Then we put ourselves in position to win the race, and we did.
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“It just comes down, no different than my career a lot of times where one door shuts and we break down the next door, even if it’s locked. I’m going to kick through it.”
It’s fitting for Preece to have won this way because he legitimately made it to the Cup Series on merit; the hard way. He won Tour Type Modified races and championships in the car owned by his dad, Jeff.
They worked, and continue to work, on that car together.
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He made it to the national touring level and eventually chose to give up a full-time mid-pack O’Reilly Series ride at JD Motorsports for just three races at Joe Gibbs Racing. He won in that car and it earned him a Cup ride in mid-pack JTG Daugherty equipment.
He then made it to Stewart-Haas Racing when that team was on the downside. He didn’t think RFK Racing was ultimately going to happen. The deal nearly didn’t. Now, this season, with a team that won’t even have a charter next season, he won his way into the new-look playoff format.
His team owner, Brad Keselowski, was proud. He called it akin to one of his kids having a major breakthrough.
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Watch: Keselowski proud of Preece after clutch Daytona victory
“Ryan’s worked really hard to put himself in position to have success,” Keselowski said. “I feel like he won the Clash at the start of the year, but outside of that it hasn’t been the season we really wanted for his car.
“He’s kept his drive, kept his fire. He’s putting the work in. That persistence, I think, has come to fruition with just a terrific night for him.
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“It’s such a clutch moment for Ryan, to come in and be however many points behind the Playoff. To just drive a great race, go get him a win, with everything on the line, those are nights that you remember, and those are nights that are really special for him but really special for everyone on this team.”
And his family.
“I’m happy that my family’s here today because when I was at the Clash, they weren’t,” Preece said. “They were at home. To be able to have my daughter, my son, my wife, my dad, have FaceTimes from my brother, my brothers and my mom probably texting me, it’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for the Preece name.
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“My grandfather, I come from a strong racing family in the Northeast, up in Connecticut, racing at Thompson, Riverside, Stafford. Didn’t have a father or anybody in my family that raced in the national series. It was nice to kind of claim this and do this for our last name, have my family there to enjoy it, as well.”
Onto the Chase for the Championship.
Watch: Preece reflects on path to Daytona win: ‘I’ve done it my way’
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