Ryan Preece Knocks Van Gisbergen Out of the Chase with His Victory at Daytona

Ryan Preece was running on fumes in the closing laps of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, and that gamble gave him both his first NASCAR Cup Series victory and the final available spot in the 2026 Chase.

It all got complicated for Preece from the start, when a three-car crash damaged the left-front of his Ford and forced repairs before he could fight for position again. The car recovered enough to be at the front in the final segment, and there Preece made the call that won him the race: instead of pitting for fuel like the rest, he stretched what was left in the tank and stayed on track, which put him in the lead when everyone else had to pit.

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The race was scheduled to end on lap 160, but a crash near the finish forced overtime, which happens in NASCAR when the leader cannot cross the finish line under green. The incident was triggered by Carson Hocevar, who lost control of his car while trying to find space on the low line, hit the outside wall, and collected Erik Jones and Ty Gibbs in the process, both also knocked out of the race.

On the overtime restart, Zane Smith started ahead of Preece, with Reddick further back trying to pass Smith on the outside on the final lap. Contact between the two sent cars into the wall again, but by then Preece had already cleared both, so the crash didn't affect him and he won under the same caution flag that ended the race. He said that after a season in which he felt written off, the result was a vindication for the entire team.

Behind Preece came Daniel Suárez, Reddick, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Suárez, in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, considered the regular season one of the best of his Cup Series career and said the team earned its Chase spot through a full year of work.

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Austin Cindric finished sixth and with that result locked up the 15th seed by nine points over Preece, who enters the Chase as the 16th seed. Bubba Wallace, who had secured his spot in the first stage thanks to a seventh-place finish in that segment, finished 20th in the race and still held onto the 14th seed.

Shane van Gisbergen arrived at Daytona with a 31-point cushion over Preece for that final spot, but the pit stop he made on lap 157 to take fuel and four tires left him in 27th position for the restart, from where he couldn't avoid the last-lap crash, finished 28th, and was eliminated from title contention.

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The 16-driver Chase 2026 field is set: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Suárez, Hocevar, William Byron, Wallace, Cindric, and Preece. Van Gisbergen became the final race's eliminated driver, the same position Ross Chastain had occupied one week earlier at New Hampshire.

Hamlin enters as the top seed with 2100 points, a lead he had secured the previous week at New Hampshire, and Blaney starts second with 2075 after winning stage 2 at Daytona despite crashing on the last lap and finishing 33rd, in what corresponds to the first season under the Chase format that NASCAR used between 2004 and 2010, with a final round of ten races in which all 16 qualifiers remain without eliminations until the final event.

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The Chase begins on Sunday, September 6 with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the first of ten races that will decide the 2026 Cup Series champion.

Coke Zero Sugar 400 2026

Pos	Nº	driver	team	brand	time
1	#60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing	Ford	-
2	#7	Daniel Suarez	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	+0.02s
3	#45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	+0.64s
4	#71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	+0.64s
5	#47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	HYAK Motorsports	Chevrolet	+1.36s
6	#2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	+2.11s
7	#3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	+2.81s
8	#48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	+4.09s
9	#21	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	+4.32s
10	#41	Cole Custer	Haas Factory Team	Chevrolet	+4.32s
11	#11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	+4.44s
12	#35	Harrison Burton(i)	23XI Racing	Toyota	+6.85s
13	#19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	+6.85s
14	#6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	+6.90s
15	#42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	+9.86s
16	#67	* Corey Heim(i)	23XI Racing	Toyota	+10.08s
17	#20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	+10.08s
18	#22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	+15.93s
19	#34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	+16.33s
20	#23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	+17.47s
21	#10	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	+18.14s
22	#24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	+18.35s
23	#9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	+18.73s
24	#1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	+19.17s
25	#88	Connor Zilisch #	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	+19.17s
26	#4	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	+20.56s
27	#33	Austin Hill(i)	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	+21.02s
28	#97	Shane Van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	+24.88s
29	#78	* Daniel Dye(i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	+59.96s
30	#16	AJ Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	+72.92s
31	#5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	+81.27s
32	#38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	+1 vuelta
33	#12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	+1 vuelta
34	#54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	+1 vuelta
35	#51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	+1 vuelta
36	#44	* Joey Gase(i)	NY Racing Team	Chevrolet	+1 vuelta
37	#62	* Casey Mears	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	+1 vuelta
38	#77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	+12 vueltas
39	#43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	+12 vueltas
40	#17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	+15 vueltas