Ryan Preece is a hard-driving, blue collar driver who throughout his racing career has had to continually prove he belongs in highest level of professional motor sports competition.
Preece’s determined and highly competitive victory in Saturday evening’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway certainly proved the likeable New Englander belonged in NASCAR Cup Series competition, but more importantly was a career building win for Preece in several ways.
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First, Preece overcame what many claimed was a highly improbable odds to earn the 16th and final position in NASCAR’s 10-race Chase Playoffs for the 2026 Cup Series Championship.
Preece’s Daytona win was his first career win in a NASCAR Cup points race. More importantly, his huge Coke Zero 400 victory vaulted him past road racing expert Shane Van Gisbergen into the final place in the 2026 NASCAR playoffs – a career first for Preece.
Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 win definitely proved his driving ability and skills to NASCAR fans, fellow drivers, team owners and sponsors. Preece was definitely impressive in his hard fought and determined Daytona victory.
His Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing team and pit crew, feeding off Preece’s desire and drive to win the final race of the 2026 NASCAR season, performed with the same enthusiasm as their motivated driver.
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When Kyle Larson spun out at the end of the first stage taking leader Chris Buescher and Preece with him into the front stretch grass, Preece’s RFK pit crew performed an excellent repair to the damaged left front fender of Preece’s fast No. 60 Ford Mustang.
This untimely accident on the last lap of Stage 1 was a double setback for Preece. Being spun out by Larson took away a possible stage win for Preece with maximum stage points, but gave the stage win and maximum points to his main competitor Van Gisbergen. Undaunted, Preece drove his repaired Mustang forward and back into contention in the second stage.
A determined Preece drove through the tight knit pack in the second stage. Starting near the back, Preece made remarkable mid-race recovery from his near disastrous spin in Stage 1. Preece finished a close second to Stage 2 winner Ryan Blaney. The spirited second-place finish garnered Preece nine precious stage points to help offset Van Gisbergen’s maximum points for his Stage 1 win.
Entering the critical final stage (65 laps) of the season-ending Daytona 400, everything was still on the line. Preece knew nothing short of a career-first Cup Series victory would propel him into his career-first NASCAR championship playoffs.
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A determined Preece battled at the front during the final stage. Preece was second with just five laps remaining when Carson Hocevar’s banzai move to seize the lead ignited a 3-car accident that set up a NASCAR overtime.
Preece and Zane Smith led the pack as the green flag dropped for the 2-lap overtime shootout. Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Mustang jumped out front of Preece leading the first overtime lap. It appeared that the diminutive and likeable Smith was set to win the biggest race of his career. However, Tyler Reddick’s off-center push to Smith coming off Turn 2 sent Smith into the outside wall igniting a huge, multi-car accident that littered the Daytona backstretch with destroyed race cars.
Miraculously out of the chaos of the huge, last-lap wreck, Preece emerged at the front of the remaining cars when NASCAR officials threw the race-ending final caution flag. Preece, as he had done since the first lap of the race, was on offense and drove full speed to take his first NASCAR Cup checkered flag just ahead of second-place Daniel Suarez.
Preece had done it! His win was more than a Cinderella Story, it was proof that through all the highs and lows of his long racing career – he definitely belonged. Perhaps most importantly, the win proved to everyone that he can compete and beat the best drivers in NASCAR.
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After an impressive first victory burnout on the Daytona Speedway finish line, the elated and perhaps vindicated 32-year-old Connecticut native emerged from his battered, winning No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang. Standing before a huge, cheering crowd on the finish line, an overwhelmed Preece was initially at a loss for words.
But, as the realization of what he had just achieved in his racing career sank in, Preece commented on his win, “I’m just speechless right now!”
Pointing at his RFK Racing teammates he said, “But, those guys, that 60 group, were fighters! When you put our back against the wall, we swing hard…Last year, there were a lot of Keyboard Warriors saying I was nothing. Well, we just kicked their butts tonight! It’s a testament of how prepared these race cars are, man. I’m a racer! I know what it takes to build speed. So, to every man and woman at RFK, thank you for giving me a rocket ship so I could go to the moon tonight. This is redemption.”
Finishing behind winner Preece and second-place Suarez was Michael McDowell, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Austin Cindric (who made the playoffs), Austin Dilon, Alex Bowman, Cole Custer, and 2026 season points winner Denny Hamlin who rounded out the top 10.
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The 2026 NASCAR Cup Chase 16-driver field is now set. Denny Hamlin will hold a 25-point lead over second seed Ryan Blaney as the battle for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series title begins next weekend at the historic Darlington Raceway in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500.
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