Ryan Preece secures Chase with first career Cup victory in dramatic Daytona finish
Ryan Preece turned one of the most uncertain regular-season finales in NASCAR Cup Series history into the biggest night of his career. The RFK Racing driver won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, 2026, earning his first points-paying victory in NASCAR's premier division after 249 starts. According to NASCAR's official report, Preece took the lead in overtime just before the final crash and was out front when the caution flag was displayed, so the victory was confirmed under caution. Instead of the scheduled 160 laps, the race ended after 166 laps, with Preece leading a total of five laps. The result carried even greater significance because it gave him the 16th and final place in the Chase, the 10-race battle for the championship.
Preece entered the regular-season finale in an extremely unfavorable points situation. Shane van Gisbergen, the Trackhouse Racing driver, held a 31-point advantage at the Chase cutoff, and the new system for 2026 does not grant an automatic playoff berth based solely on a victory. NASCAR brought back the name and concept of The Chase this season, but with revised rules under which only the 16 highest-ranked drivers after 26 regular-season races qualify for the finale. That is precisely why simply winning at Daytona was not enough for Preece; at the same time, he had to erase a large points deficit to van Gisbergen. In the end, he accomplished both, scoring 67 points during the night while the New Zealander finished with 19, leaving the final margin between them at 17 points in favor of the RFK Racing driver.
The first stage nearly turned the race against Preece
A dramatic turnaround did not seem likely after the end of the first stage. According to NASCAR, Chris Buescher was leading toward the end of Lap 35 when contact with Kyle Larson's car triggered an incident that also caught Preece. His No. 60 Ford ended up in the grass with damage to the left-front area, while van Gisbergen took advantage of the chaos and won the stage. That gave the Trackhouse driver the maximum 10 stage points, while Preece, despite spinning and losing positions, managed to be classified eighth. During repairs, RFK Racing determined that the car could continue without a major loss of speed, which proved crucial for the rest of the night.
Preece then worked his way back through the field and showed in the second stage that his car still had the pace required to fight near the front. Ryan Blaney won that stage after a late pass on Chase Elliott, while Preece finished second and earned nine additional points. That run of points reduced the pressure but did not eliminate the main problem: van Gisbergen was still in a position to control his own destiny if he could remain high enough in the order through the end of the race. Preece's team therefore had to combine an attack on the track with extremely careful fuel management. According to NASCAR's report, RFK tried to stretch its fuel tank during the long green-flag run in the final stage, calculating that track position could be decisive if the finish remained free of an additional pit stop.
Fuel strategy changed the battle for the final Chase position
The key moment for van Gisbergen's side came after the caution on Lap 155. Carson Hocevar lost control entering Turn 3, hit the outside wall, and Erik Jones and Ty Gibbs were also involved in the incident. Track cleanup extended the finish and changed the fuel-consumption calculations for teams trying to reach the checkered flag without another pit stop. Stephen Doran, crew chief of the No. 97 car, explained to NASCAR that van Gisbergen had a realistic chance of making it to the finish if the race had continued under green, but that the long caution period increased the risk of running out of fuel. Trackhouse therefore decided to call its driver to pit road, fill the tank and install four new tires.
That decision was understandable from the standpoint of ensuring a reliable finish, but it dropped van Gisbergen deep into the running order. He lined up 27th for the overtime restart, while Preece was right at the front alongside Zane Smith. In only a few minutes, the points equation completely changed: the driver who had arrived at Daytona with a 31-point advantage now had to fight his way through a very tightly packed group of cars, while his direct rival had an opportunity to win. On a superspeedway like Daytona, such a position carries major risk because the cars are packed into multiple lanes in the closing laps and any mistake can trigger a chain-reaction crash. Van Gisbergen was indeed caught in the final-lap incident and was classified 28th.
Preece attacked in overtime and took the lead before the final chaos
Overtime began with Smith in the lead, while Preece was close behind and knew there was no longer any reason to drive conservatively. According to NASCAR's official summary, Tyler Reddick first tried to attack on the outside after previously pushing Smith, and then Smith and Reddick became tangled on the final lap. Preece found a way through as the situation unfolded, moved ahead of the group and was leading when NASCAR triggered the caution because of multiple crashes on the backstretch. Because the running order is frozen in such a situation at the moment the caution is activated, his position on the track became the official result. The subsequent technical inspection was completed without irregularities, so NASCAR confirmed the victory for the No. 60 car.
Behind Preece, Daniel Suárez was classified second, while Reddick was third, Michael McDowell fourth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fifth. Austin Cindric finished sixth and in doing so secured the 15th place in the Chase, nine points ahead of Preece in the final regular-season standings. Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Josh Berry and Cole Custer completed the top 10. According to the official results, Preece started the race from fourth place, and RFK Racing states that despite the damage from the first stage, he ended the night with five laps led and finishes of eighth and second in the first two stages. That distribution of points proved decisive because the new rules heavily reward victory while simultaneously retaining the importance of points earned in stages.
New NASCAR rules made victory valuable, but not automatically sufficient
Preece's Daytona outcome is particularly interesting in the context of the system NASCAR introduced for the 2026 season. After more than a decade of an elimination-style playoff, the organization returned to the Chase, but without the former rule under which a regular-season victory almost automatically guaranteed a place in the finale. According to NASCAR's official explanation, the top 16 drivers in points after 26 races enter the Chase, with no elimination rounds during the final 10 races. A race winner now receives 55 points, 15 more than under the previous system, while the distribution for the other positions and stage points remains unchanged. In this way, NASCAR aims to reward victories while also preserving the value of consistency throughout the entire season.
After the regular season ends, the points of Chase participants are reset once according to the final standings. Denny Hamlin, as the top seed, enters the final 10 races with 2,100 points and a 25-point advantage over second-seeded Ryan Blaney, who starts with 2,075. Third place receives 2,065 points, after which the values decrease by five points down to 16th place. As the final seed, Preece therefore begins the Chase with 2,000 points, a full 100 behind Hamlin. In this format, there are no additional cuts after individual rounds: all 16 drivers remain in the points battle throughout the entire finale, and the champion is the one with the most points after the final race of the season.
Van Gisbergen misses the finale despite winning a stage
For Shane van Gisbergen, Daytona ended in completely the opposite way from how it began. The three-time Australian Supercars champion won the first stage, which according to NASCAR was his first stage victory on an oval track, and further strengthened his advantage over Preece early in the race. However, the decision to make a late pit stop, the drop to the rear of the lead group and the final crash erased almost the entire points cushion with which he had entered the race. In an official post-race statement, van Gisbergen congratulated Preece and emphasized that one night does not define an entire season, but admitted that he was disappointed not to make the Chase. His final 28th-place finish and 19 points earned left him 17 points below the cutoff.
That outcome also illustrates how unique Daytona is as the regular-season finale. The 2.5-mile oval is known for racing in large packs, intense drafting battles and the possibility of a single incident involving a large number of cars, so strategic decisions about fuel and position are often decided in the final few laps. In this race, fuel, stage points and the timing of the final caution flag together determined the last place in the Chase. Van Gisbergen was statistically in the safer position for most of the night, but Preece took advantage of the only scenario that gave him complete control over the outcome: fighting for the victory itself. His 67 points were enough to completely reverse the standings around the finale cutoff.
The biggest points-paying victory of Preece's Cup career
For the 35-year-old Preece, the result carries additional weight because of the path he took to his first points-paying Cup Series victory. NASCAR notes that he had previously won the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in 2026, but that race is an exhibition and does not award championship points. Daytona is therefore his first full Cup triumph counted in the official statistics for points-paying races, achieved in his 249th start. RFK Racing also recalled that Preece had endured a series of difficult experiences at the track, including a spectacular rollover in the 2023 summer race and incidents in the last two editions of the Daytona 500. Winning at the same venue while also advancing into the Chase has therefore become a clear turning point in his career.
The success is also important for RFK Racing, which is sending two cars into the finale. Chris Buescher had previously secured his place in the Chase, while team co-owner Brad Keselowski emphasized after Daytona that qualifying two cars is an important indication of the team's ambition to establish itself among the leading organizations in the Cup Series. Preece, however, will enter the finale from the most difficult starting position among the 16 contenders because of the reseeding system. He therefore faces a different challenge from the one he faced at Daytona: one big night is no longer enough, and over 10 races he must systematically reduce the initial 100-point deficit to the top seed. The first opportunity comes on September 6 in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
The Chase field consists of Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suárez, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece. According to NASCAR, the championship winner will be the driver who has the most points after all 10 final races, without elimination rounds and without a finale in which a single race alone determines the title. Preece will start as the 16th seed, but at Daytona he has already demonstrated how much the new system can reward a driver who simultaneously earns stage points and wins when the pressure is greatest. His first points-paying victory is therefore not only a personal milestone but also a result that changed the entire structure of the 2026 championship fight in the final miles of the regular season.
Sources:
- NASCAR - official Coke Zero Sugar 400 race report, results, key incidents, stage standings and confirmation of Preece's victory (link)
- NASCAR - report on Shane van Gisbergen missing the Chase, points calculation and explanation of the late fuel strategy (link)
- NASCAR - official explanation of The Chase format for the 2026 season, points system, reseeding and finale without elimination rounds (link)
- RFK Racing - team summary of Daytona, Preece's starting position, stage results, number of laps led and context for RFK Racing (link)
- Motorsport.com - official race classification and confirmation of Preece's first Cup victory in his 249th start (link)
- NASCAR - analysis of Preece's victory and context of his previous difficult appearances at Daytona (link)