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Ryan Preece Breaks Down How He Won the Clash to Kevin Harvick and What It Changes for His Season
Ryan Preece joins Kevin Harvick for this week’s ‘Victory Lap’ interview following his emotional win at The Clash, breaking down what the victory means for his career and his team moving forward. Preece walks through how he navigated changing weather conditions, wet tires, and constant restarts to put himself in position to win, while also sharing the mindset that helped him stay patient and confident throughout the race. He opens up about the emotions of reaching Victory Lane, how this moment validates the work behind the scenes, and why this win feels different than any other in his journey. Preece also discusses how the victory changes expectations for the rest of the season and what it signals about his belief in himself and his team heading into Daytona and beyond.
Well … that’s all she wrote for the NASCAR regular season. Just like that, it’s playoff time. Or “Chase” time. Whatever they’re calling it nowadays.
The longest season in sports now enters a 10-week race to the finish. We start in Darlington, and end in Miami. Daytona, meanwhile, takes a long, well-earned rest until next February.
Ryan Preece, somehow, won Saturday night under the lights. He entered the race a billion points below the Chase cutline, needed a win — and some luck — to get in, and … he got the win, and some luck.
First NASCAR Cup Series win of his career, too. First real one, anyway (he won the Busch Clash earlier this year).
“Daytona almost took my life,” Preece said, referring to his nasty Daytona spin(s) a few years ago that led to the speedway removing the grass on the backstretch. “Or ended my racing career. It could’ve. We were inches away from something, possibly, really bad happening.”
Well, this certainly beat the heck outta that! Well done, Ryan. We’ll dive in here in a bit.
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 Kroger/OIKOS Ford, celebrates with his crew after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Aug. 29, 2026. (Getty Images)
Of course, that’s not all from a pretty loaded Daytona weekend.
I’ve also got a wild wreck on the final lap, drivers being accused of wrecking other drivers, one driver going airborne, and Tom Cruise. That’s right.
Tom Cruise!
Well, we’re not really gonna talk about him. Instead, we’re gonna check in with old Days of Thunder teammate, Randy Quaid, who seems excited for the sequel!
You’ll see.
Four tires, a splash of that Sunoco racing fuel, and maybe a bucket of popcorn for Randy as he watches the new movie … Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the ‘Leftist, Woke & Horrible’ edition — is LIVE!
Randy’s excited for Days of Thunder II!
We have so many places we could start this morning, I don’t even know how to choose …
Never mind! This one’s easy. If the race was yesterday, I’d start with Preece winning or Ricky Stenhouse (allegedly) hooking Ryan Blaney. But that was two days ago at this point. You guys have seen a lot of it already.
What you haven’t seen, though, is Randy Quaid (Cousin Eddie!) losing his everloving mind on Tom Cruise and Anne Hathaway.
For those who missed it, Tom and Anne announced over the weekend that ‘Days of Thunder’ would be moving forward with a sequel, set for release in 2028 when we’re all getting ready to vote for JD Vance (or Marco!).
Cruise was at the track Saturday night with enough security for a president, by the way.
Seriously:
Tom Cruise at Daytona. (Zach Dean/OutKick.com)
That’s Tom in the white in the middle, with three guards leading the way, three more to his right, and one to his left. He had two escalades waiting for him beyond that gate. I’ve only ever seen a security presence like that at Daytona when Trump’s in town. Wild.
Anyway, Tom was NASCAR’s big get this weekend, and he attended the driver’s meeting before the race. I don’t know what he said because I wasn’t invited (not complaining, trust me), but I do know he respected Kyle Busch like any true patriot:
Tom Cruise recognizes an empty chair honoring the late Kyle Busch during the drivers meeting before the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Aug. 29, 2026. (Getty Images)
Cole Trickle gets it. Not surprised.
Someone who doesn’t quite get what’s going on is Randy Quaid, who played team owner Tim Daland in the original ‘Days of Thunder.’
There’s been no official word yet, but it sounds like Randy was NOT invited back this time around:
NASCAR got the caution right
“Anne Hathaway is a leftist, woke, horrible choice for DAYS OF THUNDER NASCAR audience who are MAGA,” Quaid posted via X shortly after the news broke Saturday.
“The sexy older chick for Tom in this film needs to be Nicole. That’s the casting that would sell the idea. It’s interesting because when we made the first one there was also a rush to get it out; editors slept in the cutting room on shifts. This is a weird thing, like they want it to come out and tank.”
Quaid, of course, wasn’t done! He went to bat, again, for Nicole Kidman a few posts later.
“We need Nicole back. Don’t be a p—y, @TomCruise,” he said. “You need the original girl. It’s not personal; it’s filmmaking. Anne isn’t sexy, because and if you haven’t noticed, she’s pregnant.”
Tom Cruise attends the NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Aug. 29, 2026, in preparation for Days of Thunder. (Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Nellie! Tell us how you really feel, Randy! Lordy.
It’s no secret that Randy and Anne Hathaway ain’t exactly on the same ends of the political spectrum, but calling her not “sexy” is a bit of a stretch.
I’m certain I align far more with Randy than I do with Anne (on some things, not the burglary stuff), but if we’re going purely based on visuals in 2026, I think I’m taking Anne over Nicole Kidman.
I just think she still has the fastball. That’s all. Fair is fair.
OK, let’s leave the fictional world of NASCAR and get to the real stuff …
Ryan Preece won Saturday night after surviving an overtime restart and finish that included the rest of the field exploding behind him down the backstretch.
NASCAR chose to wait during the first set of wrecks on throwing the yellow, but eventually threw it when Ricky Stenhouse sent poor Ryan Blaney into the fence.
It may be unpopular, but … I think NASCAR made the right call to A) wait, and B) finally throw it when they did:
Ricky, Ryan & Daniel, oh my!
Look, I hate that these races usually end under caution nowadays. Hate it. It angers me every single time, especially when the 500 ends under yellow.
That race, in my opinion, should only be allowed to end under green.
But I get this one. NASCAR tried to let them run to the finish after the first crash. They couldn’t keep sitting on their hands when the rest of the field started imploding a few seconds later.
Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Kyle Larson spin after an on-track incident during the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Aug. 29, 2026. (Getty Images)
The Blaney hit looked hard. They weren’t gonna let him sit there for another 30 seconds while the leaders raced to the finish. They just couldn’t do that, for obvious reasons.
Speaking of Ryan Blaney … I know everyone is blaming Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for hooking him today for no reason, but …
I give Ricky a pass here:
Turns out, Dillon actually got doored by the No. 2, which sent him into Ricky, which sent Ricky into Ryan, which sent Ryan into the wall.
Y’all got all that?! Good!
Looked bad, though. Sounded even worse:
“The f—ing 47, what the f–k! What the f–k are we doing?! We’re going down the backstretch and he f—n hooks me! Stupid f—k.”
“I can’t drive it, it’s f—in killed!”
Six F-bombs from Rhino! That’s the Angry Blaney we’ve all come to know and love. Missed him. It’s been a while.
Welcome back, Ryan.
While Blaney was blowing off some steam, poor Kyle Larson was getting run over by Daniel Dye. And I literally mean RUN OVER.
Amazing. Don’t really know what Daniel’s plan was here, but if this was it, he nailed it. Well done!
OK, that’s it for today — and this week. Good work, everyone. It’s Chase time, now. Let’s lock it in. Ten races to the finish.
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On the way to Darlington, here’s Natalie Decker at her Daytona pool party after finishing 22nd in Friday night’s O’Reilly race.
Bottom’s up!
