Confidence High for RFK Heading Into Regular Season Finale at Daytona

Confidence is high for RFK Racing drivers Ryan Preece (60), Chris Buescher (17) and Brad Keselowski heading into Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The confidence is high for RFK Racing, which is looking to land one of its three cars in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field by way of a win, heading into Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Ford Performance consistently has brought the fastest overall cars to superspeedway races this season, which has given the three RFK Racing drivers, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski, a reason to have confidence.

"If you're going to try to win this race, I guarantee you're going to have to go through an RFK car to win," Preece, the driver of the team's No. Ford Mustang said during a Friday media availability. "So, I feel like we're in a strong position to get one of our cars in, and good luck to the other ones that are going to have to get through us."

Race car drivers are typically a very selfish lot. You don't get to the top of the NASCAR Cup Series by paving the way for a teammate to take wins. You get there by taking the wins yourself. But in Saturday night's race, the three RFK Racing teammates plan to race selfless -- at least until the final lap.

"You know, ultimately, there's only ever one winner. Every time you come into a superspeedway race and you work with your teammates, you always have the mindset of pushing each other and getting each other as far forward as possible until there are no cars left to pass, and then you work it out amongst yourselves, right," Buescher, who drives the team's No. 17 Ford said. "I still say, there's no doubt in my mind that you come off of Turn 4, and if you're helping each other all day, then all bets are off at that point. Or maybe earlier, I don't know. But it'll be a race."

Buescher said all bets are off may have been a bit of a strong statement, but he says while their tight-knit team will do everything in their power to put them collectively in a position to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400, that they will not lay over for one another.

"What is it? Thou shalt not wreck their teammate until at least they can go across the line backwards and finish second," Buescher joked. "I don't know, maybe there is a timing etiquette in there that is important. But again, we have worked really well together here through the years."

Preece says while each driver will do whatever they can, within reason, to win the race for themselves, ultimately, for the RFK Racing team, they'll all remain cognizant that there is a bigger goal that the organization is working toward than a win by any one individual driver.

"The way I look at this race is, our jobs are to get up in the first few rows and work with each other to get there. But if Brad and Chris are in the first two rows, it's my job to find myself there to work with them, and to put RFK, or one of us, in a position coming to the line winning. Whether that be Chris out front, or Brad, or myself; you want to be selfish as a driver, but understanding the main goal for the company, and the employees, and everybody there, it's very important that one of these cars gets into the Playoffs," Preece said.

And the driver, who moved from Stewart-Haas Racing in the offseason and has enjoyed the best season of his NASCAR Cup Series career through the opening 25 races of the 2025 season, feels that if RFK Racing can get one of their three cars into the Playoff field, they could be a thorn in the side for the competition.

"I think if one of our cars can get into the Playoffs, it's going to be a serious threat," Preece emphasized.

Another thing working in RFK Racing's favor is that the juggernaut team in the blue oval camp, Team Penske, has all three of its drivers locked into the Playoffs heading into Saturday night's event at Daytona.

While Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry will obviously be seeking additional Playoff Points to assist their own personal Playoff runs, RFK Racing expects that Team Penske and the other Ford teams could potentially help push them to the finish line on Saturday night, if they find themselves hooked up in the closing laps, to extend Ford's representation in the Playoffs to five cars.

"Yeah, I think it's a good move from an OEM standpoint, right? All of us, racing for Ford, the main goal is for Ford to compete for a championship. The more cars that are Fords that are in it, that gives us more opportunities," Preece explained. "I feel like all of us, not only within RFK, but Penske, Front Row, and Rick Ware, we work well together and we try to make sure at the end of these races a blue oval is the one going to victory lane."

In this race a season ago, it was the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford team that was able to work themselves into the Playoffs through a surprise win with Harrison Burton behind the wheel. While any of the three RFK Racing drivers reaching victory lane wouldn't be as big of an upset as Burton was last year, they're all hoping to have a similar outcome in the 2025 edition of the event.