By Don Coble, Florida Sports Wire
DAYTONA BEACH (www.jaxsportsday.com) – Ryan Preece needs a good finish, if not a victory, in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. Otherwise, he will be on the sidelines when the NASCAR Series Chase starts next week at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
Despite having only three top 10 finishes in 13 starts at the 2.5-mile raceway and going into the regular season finale with a new rules package, Preece said he will be on offense after the green flag waves at 7:30 p.m.
“From a points perspective, I mean, drivers’ [points], we have a chance – a Hail Mary chance,” Preece said. “So, we’re going to race the hell out of it. I mean, [SVG’s] the one that’s in right now and I’m not. Usually, when things are different and not predictable, I excel.”
Preece is 17th in the point standings with one race remaining before the playoffs start next week, and the Chase field will only include the top 16 drivers. He trails road-course ringer Shane Van Gisbergen by 31 points for the final transfer spot.
All SVG essentially needs is to earn some stage points or finish ahead of Preece to advance. Preece said he’s not taking any chances.
“I’m on offense. I’m not playing defense,” Preece said. “Hopefully, Daytona is going to love me back for once.”
Daytona hasn’t been kind to the 35-year-old driver from Berlin, Connecticut. He’s failed to finish seven of his 13 races at Daytona, and he suffered one of the worst crashes of his career when his Ford barrel rolled 13 times during the 2023 summer race.
There are five drivers with a mathematical chance to earn one of the final three spots. Bubba Wallace is in 14th place, followed by Austin Cindric is 15th. Wallace can clinch by finishing 37th or better. Cindric can advance by earning stage points. Preece’s boss, Brad Keselowski, is 18th, but a 66-point deficit means he must win the race, win both stages and run the quickest lap to earn a maximum 76 points. Even with all of that, he still would need SVG to finish 31st or worse and not earn any stage points.
The high banks at Daytona have created some thrilling finishes – and big crashes. Cars generally travel in tight-knit groups called the draft to divide the aerodynamic resistance. Three cars running in line nose-to-tail are usually 10 mph faster than a single car.
NASCAR changed its aerodynamic rules package for Saturday’s race to break up the traffic jam. The rear spoiler that creates downforce will be reduced from seven inches to four. And horsepower will be reduced from a maximum of 520 to 465.
“I guess we’re all on a level playing field when we go into that one,” Preece said. “If you worry about the things you can’t control, it’s going to eat you alive. I’ve always just worried about the things I can control and make sure I do them well.”
Drivers will try to figure out the new rules package without any practice ahead of Friday’s qualifying session from 5-6:30 p.m. (TRU Network). The main event on Saturday on NBC will consist of 35-, 60- and 65-lap stages.
