The NASCAR regular season reached a dramatic conclusion at Daytona International Speedway – as a driver who saw his life flash before his eyes at the very same track snatched the last spot in The Chase.
NASCAR has ditched its controversial playoff format to move back to a new 10-race postseason to decide its champion in a move widely praised within the sport.
While the majority of the 16 spots were locked in entering the Coke Zero Sugar 400, a handful of drivers were still fighting for the final places to keep their championship dreams alive.
And Ryan Preece emerged with a dramatic victory in an overtime finish, leading the race as a massive crash erupted behind him as he drove clear from the chaos and clouds of smoke.
It saw Preece snatch the final spot in The Chase from New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen after he had entered the final race of the regular season 31 points behind the cut line.
After a top-10 in New Hampshire last weekend to keep his hopes alive, Preece said: ‘So yeah, from a points perspective, I mean, drivers’ (points), we have a chance — a Hail Mary chance. But the owners’ (points), we have a real chance. So we’re gonna race the s*** out of them.’
Ryan Preece snatched the final spot in The Chase in the final NASCAR regular season race
Preece won a dramatic overtime finish at Daytona as a massive wreck happened behind him
And knowing he needed to do something special, he pulled off his first career win in a Cup Series points race, heading to Victory Lane at the track where he had two of the darkest and scariest moments of his career.
He spent a night in hospital after a terrifying wreck in this exact race in 2023, flipping near a dozen times and being hit by an oncoming car.
Then, in the 2025 Daytona 500, history repeated itself in another terrifying airborne crash.
On that occasion, he somehow walked away unharmed and said at the time: ‘But when the car took off like that, it got real quiet. All I thought about was my daughter, so I’m lucky to walk away, but we’re getting really close to somebody not being able to, so I’m very grateful.’
After his remarkable win this year to reach The Chase, he said it was ‘redemption’ for his previous experiences at the track where he has TWICE cheated death.
He later told USA Sports: ‘It’s kind of been a thing where I’ve been showing the picture of my eyes that really nobody has ever seen, the day after. And I like to show people it because I like to see their reaction.
‘But it’s also a reflection and something that reminds me that Daytona almost took my life. Ended my racing career, it could’ve. We were about inches away from something possibly really bad happening.
‘So to be standing here in Victory Lane and saying I won at Daytona, a place where every kid that races, they dream of winning here…so I’m just happy I had a rocket ship to go to the moon tonight.’
Preece was hospitalized after one of the worst crashes in NASCAR history in this race in 2023
History repeated itself when Preece again got airborne in the 2025 Daytona 500
Preece celebrated with his wife and two kids in Victory Lane after the biggest win of his life
Earlier this year, Preece admitted he was now ‘kind of numb’ to re-watching the crashes that inevitably resurface every time he heads to Daytona.
He said before February’s Daytona 500: ‘When I wreck like that, a lot of us race car drivers, and I’m sure we all, for the most part, have the same reaction of if we flip or have a bad wreck, it’s just part of it.
‘If you’re like me and you care about what you do and you want to win and all those things, you probably have the same reaction.
‘When I see that replay, kind of like everyone else, I joke about it now at this point. I hope that Daytona is a little different for me. It’d be nice to be on the good side of things and not on my roof, or keeping all four tires on the ground, having a good finish or winning.’
After now winning at the World Center of Racing, he will take momentum into The Chase, starting Darlington Raceway next Sunday.
