Preece to Fight for Championship After Wild Overtime Win At Daytona

Ryan Preece's odds of making the Chase for the NASCAR Cup were not very good coming into Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The RFK Racing driver had a 31-point deficit to the cut line, and it was apparent it would take a special night to lock into the Chase as Shane van Gisbergen, the driver Preece was chasing, won the opening Stage of the race as Preece went spinning through the infield grass.

The leaders make contact coming to the green-and-white checkered, and @shanevg97 takes Stage 1! pic.twitter.com/gBHac21qmr
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 30, 2026

But Preece and his No. 60 RFK Racing team aren't pushovers, and they don't give up as long as they still have a chance. The driver, who had gone winless through his first 248 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, fought hard for the remainder of the race and found himself in the mix in the closing laps, but then a caution involving Carson Hocevar and Erik Jones with four laps to go sent the race into overtime.

Trouble at the front of the field!@CarsonHocevar goes for a slide and gets into the wall. pic.twitter.com/aBCUAfXnOq
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 30, 2026

Preece would line up second, alongside Zane Smith in the overtime restart attempt. And after jockeying for the top spot for a lap, Preece would gain the advantage with one lap to go. As the drivers worked their way onto the backstretch, everything came undone behind Preece, as Smith went crashing along with several other drivers in the field.

RYAN PREECE IS A NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNER!! pic.twitter.com/e1SjHoVH1N
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 30, 2026

It took NASCAR a moment to throw the caution, as the sanctioning body seemed hopeful to let Preece, and Daniel Suarez race out the battle for the win to the finish line. But too much carnage would unfold, which led to the yellow flag waving, which froze the field. With Preece in the lead at the time of caution, he was the winner of the race.

As Preece crossed the finish line in first, van Gisbergen, who opted to pit for fuel prior to the overtime restart, would be scored with a 28th-place finish. This meant not only did Preece pick up his first career win, but he also did enough, by 16 points, to advance into the Chase for the Championship.

Being able to come back from the early-race incident to score the emphatic victory, had Preece feeling incredibly thankful for his RFK Racing team.

"It's just a testament to how prepared these race cars are, man," Preece said about his ability to come back from the crash at the end of Stage 1. "I'm a racer. I know what it takes to build speed. So, to every man and woman at RFK Racing, thank you for giving me a rocket ship so I could go to the moon tonight."

And the fact that he was able to score the win, and lock into the Chase at Daytona of all places, a track where he has gone tumbling twice in terrifying crashes, was even more special.

"This is redemption," Preece exclaimed.

While it was elation for Preece, there was nothing but disappointment for van Gisbergen, who defied the odds for the majority of the regular-season, as the road racing ace sat above the Chase cutline. Unfortunately, he came up a little short on Saturday night, and won't have a chance to fight for the championship in the final 10 races of the season.

"Congrats to [Preece], but yeah, what a night," van Gisbergen said after the disappointing result. "Doesn't sum up our year, I guess. We haven't been good enough. It's been cool to be close, but a shame we're not in it."

Suarez, the driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, would be scored with a runner-up finish, while Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. rounded out the top-five finishers in the race.

With Saturday night's race serving as the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season, the 16-driver Chase field was set in stone. The drivers, who will fight for the title include 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, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece.

The NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship kicks off with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 6. That race will be televised on USA Network with coverage set to kick off at 5:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of that event.

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