Ryan Preece of Berlin, Connecticut, won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, securing the 16th and final spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He will join fellow Connecticut native Joey Logano in the postseason, which begins Sunday at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
Preece’s victory came at a track where he previously experienced crashes, including during the 2023 and 2024 Daytona 500s. On Saturday, he avoided a late-race incident involving Zane Smith and other cars, safely navigating his No. 60 car to the checkered flag under caution. The win allowed him to surpass Shane van Gisbergen in the standings.
"This is redemption," Preece told the Associated Press. "Those guys, that 60 (car), we're fighters. When you put our back against the wall, we swing hard."
Preece’s Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team now has two drivers in the playoffs, with Chris Buescher also qualifying. Preece, who has been racing in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2015, earned his first Cup points race victory on Saturday, following an earlier win at the Cookout Clash in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Before reaching the Cup Series, Preece raced Midgets and Modifieds on regional tracks, winning the 2011 SK Modified season series at Stafford Motor Speedway. His future wife, Heather, was the SK Modified Rookie of the Year at Stafford in the same year. Preece is a 2009 graduate of Xavier High School.
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