Ryan Preece needed a win Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
He got it by 0.024 seconds.
Preece won a wild overtime finish in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, holding off Daniel Suárez at the line to score his first career NASCAR Cup Series points-paying victory and race his way into the Chase in the final race of the regular season.
The result delivered an enormous swing in NASCAR’s championship picture. Preece’s victory put the RFK Racing driver into the Chase and eliminated Shane van Gisbergen from championship contention.
Michael McDowell finished third, followed by Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to complete the top five.
For Preece, though, nothing else mattered after 166 laps at Daytona.
He came to Florida needing the biggest result of his Cup career. He left with it.
Ryan Preece Wins His Way Into the NASCAR Chase
There was no ambiguity about what Preece needed entering NASCAR’s regular-season finale.
A victory would put him in the Chase. Anything less would leave his fate dependent on how the rest of the race unfolded.
Preece took care of it himself.
After the Coke Zero Sugar 400 went six laps beyond its scheduled 160-lap distance, Preece emerged from the overtime scramble at the front of the field. Suárez was right there with him coming to the stripe, but Preece prevailed by just 0.024 seconds in an incredibly tight finish.
The victory also wiped away the championship consequences of a costly 25-point penalty Preece received following the Texas race earlier this season.
Instead of leaving Daytona wondering what might have been, Preece punched his ticket into the Chase with his first points-paying Cup victory.
And his breakthrough came at the expense of another driver fighting to keep his championship hopes alive.
Van Gisbergen finished 27th, and Preece’s victory knocked SVG out of the Chase field.
It was the kind of dramatic postseason swing Daytona has become synonymous with: one driver celebrating a career-defining victory while another watched his championship opportunity disappear.
Coke Zero Sugar 400 Goes to Overtime at Daytona
Preece’s victory capped a race that featured 41 lead changes and four cautions, with 22 laps run under yellow.
The scheduled 160-lap event ultimately stretched to 166 laps in overtime and took 2 hours, 40 minutes and 54 seconds to complete.
Preece led five laps, but he was out front when it mattered most.
Suárez came within inches of producing his own stunning Daytona victory before settling for second. McDowell finished 0.642 seconds behind Preece in third, with Reddick fourth and Stenhouse fifth.
Austin Cindric finished sixth, followed by Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Cole Custer. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10.
Several championship contenders finished much deeper in the field.
William Byron finished 22nd, with Chase Elliott directly behind him in 23rd. Ross Chastain finished 28th, Kyle Larson was 31st and Ryan Blaney finished 33rd.
For all the movement throughout the field, however, the defining story of Daytona belonged to Preece.
Full NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 Results
Here are the complete results from the 2026 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway:
- Ryan Preece
- Daniel Suárez
- Michael McDowell
- Tyler Reddick
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Austin Cindric
- Austin Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Cole Custer
- Denny Hamlin
- Josh Berry
- Harrison Burton
- Brad Keselowski
- Chase Briscoe
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Christopher Bell
- Corey Heim
- Joey Logano
- Todd Gilliland
- Bubba Wallace
- Ty Dillon
- William Byron
- Chase Elliott
- Connor Zilisch
- Noah Gragson
- Austin Hill
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Ross Chastain
- Daniel Dye
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kyle Larson
- Zane Smith
- Ryan Blaney
- Ty Gibbs
- Cody Ware
- Joey Gase
- Casey Mears
- Carson Hocevar
- Erik Jones
- Chris Buescher
Daytona represented the final opportunity for drivers outside the championship field to change the course of their seasons.
Preece did exactly that.
After everything that happened over the first 25 races of the regular season, his Chase hopes ultimately came down to a few feet at the finish line.
Preece beat Suárez by 0.024 seconds, earned his first points-paying Cup Series victory and secured his place in the Chase.
For van Gisbergen, that same finish ended his championship bid. For Preece, it changed everything.
Who Won the NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona? Full Race Results