DAYTONA BEACH, FL. – August 31, 2026 – Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing’s Ryan Preece scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series points-paying victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, winning the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in overtime and securing the 16th and final spot in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase.
Preece entered the regular-season finale 31 points behind for the final Chase position. With his victory, Preece vaulted past Shane van Gisbergen by 17 points to earn his first career Cup Series win and a spot in the 10-race championship pursuit. The victory marked the 144th NASCAR Cup Series win for team owner Jack Roush and the seventh Cup Series victory under the Roush Fenway Keselowski banner. It was also Ford’s fifth Cup Series victory in the last seven races.
Five Ford Mustang drivers advanced to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase: Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher of RFK Racing, along with Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric of Team Penske.
“Congratulations to Jack, Brad, Chip, Derrick, Ryan and everyone at Roush Fenway Keselowski on the win at Daytona International Speedway,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Ryan battled through some challenges at the end of Stage 1 but drove through the field from 38th position in Stage 2 to earn his first points win. To win five of the last seven races is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the employees at Ford Racing, RFK Racing, Team Penske and Roush Yates Engines. We finished the regular season with tremendous momentum, and we’re looking forward to the Chase.”
“Unreal. The Northeast is gonna burn it down tonight because when we won the Clash all I heard was, ‘That was a non-points race.’ Well, now we’ve won a points race and now we’re in the playoffs. We came with our back against the wall and we fought. That was a heavyweight fight and we were never out. Thank you to OIKOS, Kroger, Fastenal, Mr. Jack Roush, everybody at RFK, Brad Keselowski, Tad Geschickter, all our friends and family, Ford for the awesome race car, Doug Yates for the awesome motor. I’m just super, super proud. I’m proud to be a Northeast guy,” commented Preece.
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher qualified second, earning a front-row starting position, while Preece qualified fourth. Team Penske’s teammates Austin Cindric started eighth and Joey Logano ninth in Saturday’s race. Buescher and Preece raced at the front of the field late in Stage 1, but contact involving Buescher and Kyle Larson collected both RFK Racing Fords and sent all three cars through the infield grass. Preece rebounded from the incident and charged through the field in Stage 2, finishing second behind Ford teammate Ryan Blaney, who won the stage.
Race Teams leveraged various pit strategies during the final stage, while Preece stayed out and remained in contention at the front of the field. He took the lead in the closing laps while stretching fuel mileage and was running among the leaders when an incident on lap 155 brought out a caution and sent the race into overtime. Preece held his position during the overtime restart and took the lead in the closing laps. When another caution flew following a series of final-lap incidents, Preece was ahead of Daniel Suárez and was declared the winner.
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric finished sixth, while Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry finished ninth at Daytona.
The NASCAR Cup Series now heads to Darlington Raceway for the Cook Out Southern 500, the opening race of the 10-race 2026 Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship. The Chase begins Sunday, September 6, at 5 p.m. ET.
About Roush Yates Engines
Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class AS9100 Rev D/ISO 13485 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.
Ford Racing in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine.
With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.
