Ryan Preece joined Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim as first-time Cup Series winners in 2026. (Photo: Sean Gardner | Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece entered the regular-season finale most likely needing to pick up his first career NASCAR Cup Series win to lock himself into The Chase… and he did just that with a walk-off win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
The driver of the No. 60 Kroger/OIKOS Ford came into the race weekend 31 points below the cutline, and left Daytona with his first Cup Series victory in his 249th career start.
“Unreal,” Preece said about finally being a Cup Series race winner. “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.”
Spire Motorsports driver Daniel Suárez scored a runner-up finish, giving his No. 7 team positive momentum heading into The Chase.
“We had a really fast No. 7 Coke Zero Sugar Chevrolet,” Suárez said. “We were so close, two years in a row with a second-place finish. I’m super proud of everyone at Spire Motorsports. All the men and women have worked really hard on the race cars. The power under the hood from the Hendrick Engine Department has been incredible. All my teammates, we got to race together for a little bit. We were so close, man. I feel like if we got to race all the way to the end, we were going to have a shot at it.
“Super happy and proud to make it to The Chase with this team. This team deserves it. I feel like in the past, I’ve had runs in the postseason where I didn’t think we were strong enough to really contend. But this team deserves to be in The Chase. We are a Chase team. There’s so many people and partners that have helped us get here and put this kind of performance together.”
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick fell short of winning back-to-back races at Daytona, but the team’s first top-five finish since Pocono Raceway will likely help the No. 3 seed Chase driver start off with momentum on his side.
“I was just really hoping we were going to be better than third there,” Reddick said. “It’s going to be close on points with the 54 (Ty Gibbs), so I don’t know if we got him or not. I was hoping something good would happen there — I either wanted to win the race or pass the 54 in points. When the 38 (Zane Smith) threw that block, it’s just so late; if you lift, you’re not going to have the push and the momentum you need to stay with the front row. I was just in a spot where it’s like I couldn’t lift. Either I’m going to hit him or I’m going to get clear of him. Clipped him and lost some momentum there and lost some help.”
Results from the 2026 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway are listed below:
SVG, Trackhouse Racing miss out on The Chase
Despite being above The Chase cutline for 20 of 26 regular-season races, one late-race call by crew chief Stephen Doran for tires and fuel, as well as being involved in the final-lap wreck, eliminated Shane van Gisbergen from Chase contention. The Trackhouse Racing driver joined his teammates Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch on the outside looking in.
“It’s pretty fresh now, but congratulations to the No. 60 (Ryan Preece),” van Gisbergen said. “One night doesn’t sum up the year for this No. 97 Red Bull Chevrolet team. We just weren’t good enough tonight, but it’s been cool to be this close. Bit of the regular season has been good, but as a team, obviously we’ve struggled. But I’m proud that I’ve been able to match my teammates on the ovals. I think I’ve stepped it up this year. Obviously, you want to be in The Chase, but we were just short.”
Van Gisbergen also earned his first career oval stage win in the NASCAR Cup Series in Stage 1. Despite those extra points, it still was not enough to remain ahead of Ryan Preece, who earned a walk-off win which produced enough points for the RFK Racing driver to advance.
Regarding Trackhouse, this is the first time in the Next Gen era and just the second time in team history that no cars made the postseason. However, former Trackhouse driver and current Spire Motorsports driver, Daniel Suárez, raced his way into The Chase.
Other Race Facts
2024 Daytona summer race winner Harrison Burton made his first NASCAR Cup Series start of the 2026 season, driving the No. 35 Toyota for 23XI Racing. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular for Sam Hunt Racing, who is also a reserve driver for Legacy Motor Club, was called upon to fill in for Riley Herbst, who was out with an “illness” related to the lingering effects of his accident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last week. Burton went on to finish 12th.
Ryan Preece’s win in the No. 60 Ford was the first time the No. 60 has won a Cup Series points race since Bill Rexford in 1950, according to statistician Daniel Céspedes.
Twenty-two different drivers led the 2026 Coke Zero Sugar 400, with 17 drivers scoring at least one stage point.
Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry earned his fifth consecutive top-10 finish after finishing ninth at Daytona, continuing the longest top-10 streak of his Cup Series career.
With Daniel Suárez finishing second and Michael McDowell finishing fourth, it marks the first time in team history that Spire Motorsports had two top-four finishers in a Cup Series race.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill led a career-high and race-high 27 of 166 laps. Hill, who was just announced as the full-time driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet in 2027, also led Lap 18, a number made famous by the late Kyle Busch. Interestingly enough, in February’s Daytona 500, Busch led Lap 3, a number made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.
The 16 drivers competing for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Championship in The Chase are set:
The 2026 Chase field is set for the final 10-race stretch. (Photo: NASCAR)
1. Denny Hamlin (2,100)
2. Ryan Blaney (-25)
3. Tyler Reddick (-35)
4. Ty Gibbs (-40)
5. Chase Briscoe (-45)
6. Christopher Bell (-50)
7. Kyle Larson (-55)
8. Chase Elliott (-60)
9. Joey Logano (-65)
10. Chris Buescher (-70)
11. Daniel Suárez (-75)
12. Carson Hocevar (-80)
13. William Byron (-85)
14. Bubba Wallace (-90)
15. Austin Cindric (-95)
16. Ryan Preece (-100)
GRID Ranking
The 2026 GRID Ranking is the 10th year of the world’s premier motorsports ranking system, which was initially released on Sunday, April 5.
The official ranking includes drivers participating in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, WRC, Supercars, MotoGP). Each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.
| DRIVER | OLD RATING | PREVIOUS RANKING | MOST RECENT FINISH | NEW RATING | NEW RANKING |
| Denny Hamlin | 14.62 | 3rd | 11th | 14.06 | 4th (Tentatively) |
| Tyler Reddick | 12.43 | 9th | 3rd | 12.81 | 9th (Tentatively) |
| Christopher Bell | 11.07 | 16th | 17th | 10.64 | 18th (Tentatively) |
| Ty Gibbs | 10.77 | 18th | 34th | 10.36 | 21st (Tentatively) |
| Chase Briscoe | 10.12 | 22nd | 13th | 9.73 | 24th (Tentatively) |
Week 22 of the GRID Ranking:
*Week 22 of the GRID Ranking will be published following the conclusion of the NTT IndyCar Series doubleheader at The Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, Aug. 30.*
For NASCAR, the five drivers from the previous GRID Ranking all remained the same as the regular season came to a close. Denny Hamlin is the NASCAR GRID Rating Regular Season Champion.
The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, Sept. 6. Coverage of the 2026 Chase opener begins at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network.
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