Three years ago, a horrific crash at Daytona nearly ended Ryan Preece’s career, so the New England native said he hoped the 2.5-mile track would show him some love in this season’s Coke Zero Sugar 400.
The prestigious track obliged in first-class fashion Saturday night. Preece not only walked off with his first career points victory, but an inaugural trip into the NASCAR Cup Series post-season as well. It also was the first victory for crew chief Derrick Finley who has been in the sport since 2003.
“I’m just speechless right now,” Preece, who won the Clash at Bowman Gray to start the season, said immediately after climbing from his RFK Racing Ford. “We’re fighters. When you put our back against the wall, we swing hard.
“Last year, there were a lot of keyboard warriors saying I was nothing. Well, we just kicked their butts tonight.”
Entering the regular season finale, Preece was 17th in the standings, 31 points behind Shane van Gisbergen in 16th. For the week leading up to the 160-lap race, Preece maintained he would be on offense in the event. However, Van Gisbergen struck first in their fight by winning Stage one as Preece slid through the infield along with RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson.
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“I knew when we drove through the grass, and Shane went and won that Stage, he was doing everything it took,” Preece said. “It was much like what I told you, it was going to be a heavyweight fight. That was the first round. Lucky for me there was two more.”
Finley said Preece’s car was still “basically in one piece” after his driver’s excursion through the grass.
“When we saw the car, we said, ‘We’re not out of it. Let’s fix this thing. We’re going to get aggressive,’” Finley recounted.
Preece never let up throughout the race, and neither did Van Gisbergen. With 10 laps remaining, Preece was leading and Van Gisbergen was 10th. Two laps later, Van Gisbergen had dropped to 11th, but Preece was still leading and that left them tied in points for the cherished 16th position.
Then on lap 155, Carson Hocevar lost control of his Chevrolet, shot back up the track, pancaked the car’s right side against the wall and then was slammed in the rear by Erik Jones. That accident sent the race into overtime.
Preece was second on the restart but made sure he was in the lead on the final lap with Daniel Suarez in hot pursuit when a multi-car crash broke out behind them. Van Gisbergen was involved and had to settle for 28th in the 40-car field. NASCAR triggered the caution lights before they reached turn three with Preece leading and Suarez second.
“As a race car driver, Shane did everything right tonight,” said Preece, who possessed a 17-point advantage over Van Gisbergen at the checkered flag. “He’s a hell of a race car driver. He’s a hell of a road course racer, but he’s a hell of a race car driver. He’s a true talent that we’re lucky to have here in the United States, but I’m happy New England beat New Zealand today.”
Earlier this season Preece was docked 25 points for intentionally wrecking Ty Gibbs at Texas. Overcoming the 31-point deficit he possessed entering the Daytona race and then emerging 17 points to the good left a smile on Preece’s face.
“I’ve had the talk from Mr. Jack Roush a few times now,” Preece said. “He came up to me before the race and shook my hand hard and said, ‘I’m not going to have to talk to you after the race, am I?’ I said, “No, sir.’ I did look at him and say, ‘I’m going to try like hell to make sure I get you back to victory lane.’”
And Preece did.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.