Ryan Preece solidified his statement emphasized earlier in the week that he would race his way into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase. He did so by notching his first ever career victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 29, following an overtime shootout.
The 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion from Berlin, Connecticut, led five of 166 over-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in fourth place and raced upfront in the early stages. While battling for the first stage victory during the stage’s final lap, Preece nearly had his Chase hopes jeopardized when he was involved in an incident with teammate Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson through the tri-oval. Despite the incident, Preece, who managed to grab eighth place and three stage points during his spin, continued and he rallied to notch a runner-up result along with nine additional stage points when the second stage period concluded.
Restarting in 12th place during the event’s third and final stage period, Preece, who also pitted for what would be his final time prior to the stage’s start, kept his entry intact and drafted his way to the front in the closing laps. Then after avoiding a three-car incident in Turn 4 that drew a late-race caution and sent the event into overtime, fuel concerns started to linger for Preece amid an extensive caution period. Despite the concerns, Preece remained on the track and dueled with Zane Smith at the start of overtime before he was shuffled out of the lead prior to the fina lap.
Then on the final lap, Preece seized a final charge beneath Smith and drag-raced with the latter before Smith got loose while trying to block Tyler Reddick and ignited a multi-car wreck entering the backstretch. With the leading in his possession, Preece maintained the lead from Daniel Suarez through the backstretch before a race-ending caution flew and handed Preece a victory worth remembering at the World Center of Racing, which also enabled him to clinch his first-ever Chase berth.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 28, Ross Chastain qualified on pole position with a pole-winning lap at 184.396 mph in 48.808 seconds. Chris Buescher qualified in second place with a lap of 184.204 mph in 48.859 seconds.
Prior to the event, Harrison Burton dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change as he replaced Riley Herbst while Herbst recovers from lingering effect following last weekend’s incident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Casey Mears also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his entry.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Ross Chastain and Chris Buescher dueled for the lead as the field started to fan out to three-packed lanes through the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Chastain motored ahead of Buescher and he built an early gap through Turns 3 and 4. As the three-wide stacked field of 40 competitors cycled back to the frontstretch, Chastain led the first lap over Buescher.
During the second lap, Kyle Larson charged from the outside lane with a draft from Chase Briscoe as he led the second lap over Chastain. Chastain would reassume the lead and lead the next lap despite having to go on defensive mode amid three-stacked lanes led by Larson on the outside lane, Shane van Gisbergen in the middle lane and Buescher on the inside lane. With Chastain, Buescher and Larson racing in three-wide formation and leading a triple-stacked field back to the frontstretch, Buescher led the fifth lap mark while the field of 40 was separated by within two seconds of one another.
On the sixth lap, teammates Buescher and Ryan Preece led the stacked field as they both transitioned towards the outside lane and in front of Chastain and Larson while van Gisbergen tried to mount a charge from the middle lane. Meanwhile, Austin Hill led the inside lane before he motored ahead of van Gisbergen, moved in front of the latter to lead the middle lane and attempted to mount a charge while Connor Zilisch led the inside lane. Shortly after and with most of the field settling in two-stacked lanes, Larson motored his way into third place and he managed to overtake Buescher with help from Hill to lead the 10th lap.
Through the Lap 15 mark, Hill, who has led since the 11th lap, continued to lead Larson, Buescher, Preece, Chastain and Briscoe in single-line formation towards the outside wall. By then, they were all slightly ahead of the pack while teammates van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch dueled for seventh place in front of two-stacked lanes. Behind, Corey Heim and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10 while William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick were racing in the top 20, respectively. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell, Cody Ware, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon were mired in the top-30 mark while Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Gase, Casey Mears, Josh Berry, Cole Custer, Daniel Dye and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the 40-car field.
At the Lap 20 mark and with the field continuing to settle in two-wide formation, Hill maintained a steady advantage over Larson, Buescher and Preece. By then, the top-four competitors were ahead of the pack while Chastain dueled with teammate van Gisbergen from the inside lane and he also tried to gain a draft from Briscoe to move forward. With Chastain only getting as high as fourth while mounting drafted charges from the inside lane through the turns, Hill retained the lead over Larson by Lap 25. Chastain continued to struggle mounting forward from the inside lane as Hill proceeded to lead Larson, Buescher, Preece and van Gisbergen, respectively, on Lap 30.
Then on the final lap of the first stage period, trouble struck at the front when Buescher, who overtook Hill for the lead amid the draft a lap prior, got turned into the outside wall entering the frontstretch after being bumped by Larson when Buescher moved in front of Larson. The contact sent the latter two veering back to the left as they along with Preece spun through the frontstretch’s grass.
Amid the incident, van Gisbergen, who holds the 16th and final Chase berth by 31 points, navigated his way through to capture his second Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Ty Gibbs navigated his way into the runner-up spot ahead of Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Briscoe while Larson slid into sixth place. Bubba Wallace settled in seventh place, which was enough for him to clinch a berth for the 2026 Chase with four critical stage points. Preece slid to an eighth-place result while John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Cindric were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, all but one of 40 starters were scored on the lead lap as Buescher pitted early to have his entry assessed for any critical damage.
Under the event’s first stage break period, most of the field led by van Gisbergen peeled off the racetrack to pit for service while the rest that included Austin Dillon, Noah Gragson, Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Cody Ware, Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Josh Berry, Joey Gase, Casey Mears, Allmendinger and Cole Custer remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Gibbs, van Gisbergen, Erik Jones and Todd Gilliland. With numerous competitors making multiple trips to pit road to top off with fuel and those who initially remained on the track pitting throughout the first stage break period, Logano cycled to the overall lead.
The second stage period started on Lap 42 as Logano and van Gisbergen occupied the front row. At the start, the latter two led a stacked field through the first two turns that soon became slightly dispersed entering the backstretch. Van Gisbergen then used the inside lane to motor ahead and move in front of Logano, which allowed the former to lead the next lap as Gilliland mounted a charge from the inside lane with drafting help from Briscoe. The front-runners then quickly fanned out and Briscoe got shuffled out of the draft entering the backstretch before settling back in two-wide formation, with Gilliland leading the next lap. By then, Buescher took his entry to the garage as Gilliland and Hill dueled for the lead before the latter motored ahead by Lap 46.
At the Lap 50 mark, the top-39 competitors were separated by three seconds of one another as Briscoe stormed his way to the lead over Hill, Chastain, Zane Smith, Gilliland, Chase Elliott, Wallace, van Gisbergen, Byron and Nemechek while Logano, Gibbs, Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Cody Ware and Bowman were separated by a second of one another. Two laps later, Chastain, who got shuffled out of the draft in the closing laps of the first stage period, mounted a drafting charge from the inside lane with help from Zane Smith while Briscoe continued to lead both the outside lane and slightly of the overall race lead. Both Briscoe and Chastain continued to duel in front of two-stacked lanes just past the Lap 55 mark before the field slowly began to fan out to three lanes.
On Lap 60 and with the field stacked up in three-wide formation, Chastain, who has led since Lap 56, went on defensive mode as he maintained the lead over Elliott, Ware, Byron and Preece while the top-28 competitors were separated by a second of one another. Elliott was then drafted out in front four laps later and he maintained control of the event over the next three laps while being drafted by teammate Byron before Zane Smith came storming up to the front from the inside lane and moving in front of Elliott within the draft on Lap 67. Preece, who rallied from the spin at the conclusion of the first stage period, also navigated his way to the front with drafting help from teammate Keselowski before Elliott repaid the favor to Smith by overtaking and sliding back in front of the latter during the following lap. With the field stacked up in two-wide formation, Smith proceeded to lead the Lap 70 mark over Elliott.
At the halfway mark on Lap 80, the top-28 competitors were racing within a second of one another in a pack and the on-track intensity started to crescendo with the field fanning out to two and three lanes. At the front, Elliott, who has led the previous 10 laps, continued to hold a steady advantage over Preece, Zane Smith, Byron, Blaney, Cindric, Bell, Logano, Briscoe and Chastain while Hill, Wallace, Gilliland, Keselowski, Larson, van Gisbergen, Ty Dillon, Harrison Burton, Suarez and Nemechek were scored in the top 20, respectively, over Jones, Gibbs, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Reddick, McDowell, Corey Heim and Allmendinger, with Gragson and Hocevar rounding out the top-30 mark.
During the next five laps, Team Penske’s trio of competitors that included Blaney, Cindric and Logano navigated their way to the front, with Blaney taking the first stab of the lead and Logano remaining in pursuit before Cindric navigated to the front before and by the Lap 85 mark. Despite being challenged by Elliott and Preece for the next lap, Cindric maintained the lead as he also led the outside lane while Blaney led the inside lane with drafting help from Logano and Larson. Amid Blaney’s charge from the inside lane, Cindric had Preece drafting the latter with the slight advantage as Cindric led the Lap 90 mark before Elliott, who despite expressed concerns about not having enough fuel to complete the second stage period under full pace, motored back ahead during the following lap.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Blaney, who executed a crossover move beneath Elliott through the backstretch a lap prior, captured his eighth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Preece, Zane Smith, Byron, Gilliland, Larson, Briscoe, Suarez, Elliott and Hill were scored in the top 10, respectively, while Cindric and Logano were shuffled back to 13th and 21st, respectively. By then, all but two of 40 starters were scored on the lead lap while van Gisbergen ended up 12th place as he did not garner any stage points during the latest stage.
During the event’s second stage break period, the leader Blaney and Elliott pitted prior to pit road being accessible to the field. Once pit road became accessible for the field, most of the field led by Preece pitted for service while Chastain, Reddick, Gibbs, Berry, Blaney, McDowell, Gragson, Custer, Hocevar, Zilisch, Stenhouse and Elliott remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Gilliland exited pit road first ahead of Briscoe, Preece, Cindric and Hill while Suarez bumped and spun Nemechek as the latter was trying to enter his pit stall. With numerous competitors making trips to pit road to top off with fuel, Gilliland cycled to the overall lead.
With 59 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Gilliland and Briscoe occupied the front row. At the start, the former, who restarted on the outside lane, motored ahead through the first two turns. Gilliland then maintained the lead through the backstretch before he went on defensive mode through Turns 3 and 4 over Briscoe and Cindric, which allowed Gilliland to lead the next lap. With the field fanned out to three lanes, a majority of the front-runners lined up in single-line formation towards the outside wall that was led by Gilliland as Gilliland maintained a steady advantage over Cindric, Logano, Austin Dillon and Casey Mears with 55 laps remaining.
Down to the final 50 laps, Keselowski, who overtook Briscoe for the lead a lap later, was leading Ware and Briscoe, the latter of whom had led the previous five laps, while Gilliland, Elliott, Byron, Cindric, Hill, Logano and Zane Smith were in the top 10. As Keselowski maintained the lead in front of two-stacked lanes with drafting help from Ware on the inside lane, the top-17 competitors were separated by less than a second of another while the top 30 were separated by less than two seconds.
With 40 laps remaining, the field of 38 was stacked in three-packed lanes as all were racing within two seconds of one another. At the front, Keselowski, Ware and Elliott primarily dueled against one another in three-wide formation for the lead, with the trio having also swapping the lead over the previous 10 laps. A lap later, Chastain, Custer, Austin Dillon, Hill, Stenhouse, Zilisch and Mears all pitted for fuel under green. While the latter group all trailed the lead group with a wide disadvantage following their pit stops, Ware, Keselowski, Byron, Elliott and Briscoe proceeded to lead the rest of the field with 35 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 30-lap mark, a majority of the field raced in single-line formation towards the outside lane as Byron was leading teammate Elliott, Briscoe, Ware, Gibbs, Wallace, Ty Dillon, Gragson, Larson and Gilliland, respectively. By then, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Custer, Stenhouse and Zilisch, all of whom pitted nine laps earlier, trailed the lead group by 22 seconds while Hill trailed by 24 seconds. With the field of 31 remaining on the track and no groups being formed to pit for a final time amid concerns of fuel shortages, Byron continued to lead with 25 laps remaining while Chastain, who was scored in 32nd place, trailed the pack by 20 seconds.
Down to the final 20 laps, the top-10 competitors slightly pulled ahead of two-stacked lanes as Byron had teammates Elliott and Larson lined up behind him within the draft while Ware, Nemechek, Reddick, Briscoe, van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs and Ty Dillon part of the lead group. By then, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Custer, Stenhouse and Zilisch trailed the lead group by 19 seconds while the rest of the pack led by 11th-place Blaney tried to reel in the lead group.
Two laps later, another group led by the leader Byron along with Larson, Elliott, Briscoe, Ware, Ty Dillon and Allmendinger pitted under green. Amid the latter group’s pit stops, they were overtaken by the first group who pitted first led by Chastain as Nemechek cycled to the lead for the next lap. Reddick then moved into the lead with 15 laps remaining and he led the next four laps while being drafted by Hocevar before Zane Smith came storming past Reddick with drafting help from Preece through the frontstretch. Preece then navigated his way into the lead as he was scored the leader over Smith, Reddick, Blaney, Hocevar, Gibbs, Jones, Suarez, Nemechek, van Gisbergen and a field of 24 competitors racing within two seconds of one another with 10 laps remaining.
Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew when Hocevar, who was battling at the front and was trying to execute a left-handed move on Preece for the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch, snapped to the left and veered sideways to the apron before he veered back up the track to the right, slammed against the outside wall hard on the right side in Turns 3 and 4 and was hit in the rear by Erik Jones while Ty Gibbs, who barely dodged Hocevar’s slide, spun to the bottom of the track.
At the moment of caution, where the rest of the field dodged the carnage and the event was sent into overtime, Zane Smith, who executed a crossover move on Preece to lead a lap prior, was leading Preece, Blaney, Reddick and Suarez while Cindric, Berry, Bowman, McDowell and Logano were scored in the top 10. During the caution period, some led by Nemechek and including Gibbs, van Gisbergen, Gragson, Keselowski, Wallace, Dye, Larson, Byron, Elliott and Zilisch pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith and Preece remained on the track.
Following a lengthy caution period to have the carnage site cleaned, the field restarted in overtime. At the start, Smith and Preece dueled in front of Blaney, Reddick and the field through the first two turns. Then through the backstretch, multiple competitors reeled in the leaders amid the draft as Reddick, who drove to the rear of Preece’s bumper, darted to the right to gain a draft from Berry. With the move, Preece was pinned in a three-wide battle for second alongside Reddick and Blaney while Smith stormed ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Smith remained in the lead as Preece, Reddick, Suarez, Berry and the field reeled back in through the frontstretch. Preece then reeled in and dueled with Smith for the lead as Smith went up the track to fend off Reddick. Then during the duel, Smith got loose off the front nose of Reddick. This caused Smith to hit the outside wall and clip the side of Berry before he spun as Logano wrecked with Gilliland against the wall.
More competitors that included Ty Gibbs, van Gisbergen, Chastain, Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Larson and Daniel Dye wrecked in the backstretch as Preece led with the event remaining under green flag conditions. Seconds later, Stenhouse turned Blaney into the wall towards the front. Combined with the first multi-car wreck, the caution flew and the event was deemed official. At the moment of caution, Preece was ahead of a hard-charging Daniel Suarez and was declared the official winner.
With the victory, Preece, who had flipped wildly twice at Daytona between the previous three seasons, became the 210th competitor overall to win in NASCAR’s premier series. He also became the sixth competitor over the previous 16 Coke Zero Sugar 400 events to notch a first Cup career victory in the latter event, the fourth first-time winner of the 2026 Cup season and the 12th winner through 26-scheduled events this season. Preece’s Daytona victory was the seventh for RFK Racing under its current banner, the sixth of this season for Ford and the first for crew chief Derrick Finley.
Above all, Preece, who entered Daytona in 17th place in the standings and 31 points below the top-16 Chase cutline, boosted his way above the cutline and clinched a Chase berth with his Daytona victory. With the Chase reset, Preece will commence his first Chase as a championship contender in 16th place in the standings with 2,000 points.
Preece will also square off against regular-season title winner Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric over the next 10 weeks in a 10-race postseason Chase stretch for the 2026 title.
“I’m just speechless right now,” Preece said on the frontstretch on NBC. “Those guys, that No. 60 group, we’re fighters, and when you put our back against the wall, we swing hard. Two years ago, there was a lot of keyboard warriors saying I was nothing. Well, we just kicked their butts tonight. It’s just a testament of how prepared these race cars are. I’m a racer. I know what it takes to build speed. Every man and woman at RFK [Racing], thank you for giving me a rocket ship so I can go to the moon tonight.”
Amid Preece’s celebration and securing a Chase berth, Shane van Gisbergen, who was forced to pit for fuel prior to the overtime shootout, was left out of the Chase picture after he was involved in the final-lap carnage and dropped to 28th place in the final running order. As a result, van Gisbergen will not make the Chase for a second consecutive season and Trackhouse Racing will have no competitors represented in the 2026 Chase.
“One night doesn’t sum up our year, I guess,” van Gisbergen said. “We haven’t been good enough, but it’s been cool to be close. Shame we’re not in [the Chase]. Bits of [our regular-season stretch] were good. As a team, obviously, we’ve struggled. I’m proud that I’ve been able to match my teammates on the ovals. I think I’ve stepped up this year, but obviously, you want to be in that Chase. Didn’t make it.”
Daniel Suarez, a 2026 Chase contender, settled in second place as he finished ahead of top-five finishers Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., respectively, while Austin Cindric officially solidified his berth to the Chase by finishing in sixth place. Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Josh Berry and Cole Custer completed the top 10 in the final running order while Denny Hamlin settled in 11th place.
Notably, Brad Keselowski, who had a long shot chance of making the Chase, missed the postseason as a competitor after settling in 14th place, though his two co-owned competitors, Preece and Chris Buescher, will contend for the title in the Chase.
This event featured 41 lead changes for 22 different leaders, and featured four cautions for 21 laps. In addition, 31 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
- Ryan Preece, five laps led
- Daniel Suarez
- Tyler Reddick, five laps led
- Michael McDowell
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap led
- Austin Cindric, six laps led
- Austin Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Josh Berry, one lap led
- Cole Custer
- Denny Hamlin
- Harrison Burton
- Chase Briscoe, 10 laps led
- Brad Keselowski, 10 laps led
- John Hunter Nemechek, two laps led
- Corey Heim
- Christopher Bell
- Joey Logano, two laps led
- Todd Gilliland, eight laps led
- Bubba Wallace
- Ty Dillon
- William Byron, 14 laps led
- Chase Elliott, 19 laps led
- Ross Chastain, 12 laps led
- Connor Zilisch
- Noah Gragson
- Austin Hill, 27 laps led
- Shane van Gisbergen, six laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Daniel Dye
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kyle Larson, two laps led
- Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 15 laps led
- Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, five laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, one lap led
- Cody Ware – OUT, Accident, eight laps led
- Joey Gase, one lap down
- Casey Mears, one lap down
- Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident, one lap led
- Erik Jones – OUT, Accident
- Chris Buescher, 15 laps down, six laps led
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase is scheduled to commence next Sunday, September 6, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
