With Tom Cruise at Daytona International Speedway announcing a sequel to his 1990 stock car racing movie “Days of Thunder,” Ryan Preece proved he was the real top gun on Saturday night.
Needing a win to make the Chase playoffs, the RFK Racing driver outdueled Zane Smith in overtime and advanced to the postseason with a victory in the Cup Series’ regular-season finale, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The two drivers lined up in Row 1 of the two-lap shootout, and Smith’s No. 38 Ford led at the white flag. However, Preece’s No. 60 took the top spot when Smith tried to block Tyler Reddick and spun, awarding Preece his first win under caution.
Preece, 35, led five laps and won in his 249th career start as Ford was victorious for the fourth straight 400 going back to 2023 at Daytona.
The Connecticut driver needed the 25-point bonus as the race winner to pass Shane van Gisbergen — who finished 27th — to take the 16th and final Chase spot.
He beat the road-racing star by 16 points.
“I’m speechless, but those guys in the 60 group are fighters, and when you put our back to wall, we swing hard,” said Preece. “Two years ago, a lot of keyboard warriors were saying I was nothing, but we kicked their butts tonight.”
Added SVG: “Obviously, you want to be in that Chase and (we) didn’t make it.”
Daniel Suarez, Reddick, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five. Smith finished 32nd overall as the race went six laps past its slated 160-lap distance.
Racing with a full 40-car field, polesitter Ross Chastain led them to green for the regular-season finale in a 35-lap Stage 1 that marked the first time the drivers raced each other with the new aerodynamic package.
Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet paced the way for three circuits, but Austin Hill’s No. 33 Chevy — the same bowtie the late Kyle Busch put on the pole in February’s Daytona 500 — showed the way until Chris Buescher passed him coming to the white flag.
However, Buescher’s No. 17 crashed coming to the checkers in an incident that also involved Kyle Larson and Buescher’s RFK Racing teammate Preece, who entered the race in 17th, 31 points behind van Gisbergen.
New Zealand’s van Gisbergen won the Stage 1 segment followed by Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Erik Jones and Chase Briscoe.
In Stage 2’s 60 laps, the racing became tighter as the cars put more circuits on the tires than the first 35 times around the World Center of Racing. Chase Elliott took the point near the halfway mark of the run, drifting his No. 9 Chevrolet from bottom to top in the high-banked turns.
With 10 laps left, Team Penske’s Fords moved their way to the front with Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney swapping the lead and Logano closely behind. Elliott took the lead with five laps to go.
Yet Blaney passed the 2020 champ and held on to beat Preece. Smith finished third, William Byron fourth and Todd Gilliland fifth.
With only 20 laps remaining in the 160-lapper, Hendrick drivers Byron, Elliott and Larson ran 1-2-3, but they pitted with 18 to go and gave up crucial track position.
The third caution flew with five laps to go when Carson Hocevar turned hard left to make a low pass, spun by himself and wrecked with Jones at the east end of the famous track.
–Field Level Media
