Ryan Preece, driver of the #60 Kroger/OIKOS Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. – Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
RYAN PREECE PUNCHES TICKET TO THE CHASE WITH DRAMATIC DAYTONA WIN
* Ryan Preece registered his first NASCAR Cup Series win with
tonight’s victory.
* Five Ford Mustang drivers will compete in the Chase: Ryan Blaney,
Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece.
* Ford has won five of the last seven Cup races: Joey Logano and Ryan
Blaney (2 each), and Preece (1)
* The win is the 144th NASCAR Cup Series triumph for car owner Jack
Roush and the seventh under the Roush Fenway Keselowski banner.
* Preece is the 92nd different driver to win a Cup race with Ford, and
the first new winner since Josh Berry won at Las Vegas (2025).
* Today’s win is Ford’s 754th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series
competition.
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/OIKOS Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY
LANE INTERVIEW – WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A WINNER IN A POINTS RACE?
“Unreal. 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.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN HERE AT DAYTONA, A PLACE WHERE YOU’VE HAD
SOME SCARY MOMENTS? “I don’t know, man. I thought I was dead three
years ago. My wife thought I was dead. To come here and win at a place
that almost ended my career means a lot.”
HOW DO YOU REGROUP NOW AND GO TO DARLINGTON? “We’re gonna fight.
We’re gonna fight hard like tonight.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“Obviously, we had a strong Maytag/Menards Ford Mustang. We were able
to get to the front when we needed to at times. I hate we weren’t able
to capitalize and lead as many laps as we did in stage two to give
ourselves a larger buffer for the final stage, but the guys did a great
job of keeping me informed with what I needed to do to keep ourselves
out front and get back to the front. Everything we needed to do we
checked the boxes tonight.” HOW DID YOU VIEW THE FINAL RESTART? “For
us, it was fairly simple on how to control our destiny and obviously
dodge the wrecks. That was the huge part, but as far as I understand
it’s a best-case scenario for Ford tonight. I’m super proud of
everybody and we’re ready to go chase for a championship.” YOU’VE
MADE THE POSTSEASON FOUR TIMES IN YOUR FIVE YEARS. YOUR THOUGHTS? “I
think, for us, we’ve got to absolutely kill it to think we have a shot
at a championship with the way that the points reset, but this team is
capable of a lot and I want to see how far we can go.” HOW NERVE
RACKING WAS TONIGHT? “Honestly, less than you’d think. I think
there’s a lot of variables and I don’t mean to downplay it, but
there were certainly a lot of variables going into the night. We
weren’t all on top of each other, so I felt like in a lot of ways it
was somewhat more simplified of how the race was gonna play out after I
was able to watch and observe. I thought our car was good enough to
charge back through when needed and obviously we got ourselves in
position. The guys did a great job of giving me information all night,
whether it was points or fuel and how to adapt. That’s what it takes
to be a contender at a minimum, but definitely look for a strong 10
weeks from us.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse – NO
RESETS NOW IN THE CHASE. WHAT IS THIS GOING TO BE LIKE? “It will be
different from what we’ve had the last little bit, but I think
everyone was kind of used to that growing up or prior or things like
that, so I really don’t think you’re just gonna have to know that
you’re not gonna be able to really afford any mistakes. Things are
gonna fluctuate up and down, for sure.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Aaron’s Dream Machine Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
YOU WERE LEADING AND THEN IT ALL WENT WRONG. WHAT HAPPENED? “I just
got wrecked. I haven’t really seen a replay to break it down, but
it’s just unfortunate to come that close and have it not work out.”
WAS IT JUST A CASE OF EVERYBODY GOING FOR THE WIN IN OVERTIME? “Yeah,
I guess. I don’t know. I haven’t seen a replay. It felt like I
didn’t even get a shot to survive with the 45 and just got wiped
out.”