Preece takes the last Cup Chase spot as Sieg wins Daytona: Week 36

Daytona closed the NASCAR regular season with Ryan Preece taking the final Cup Series Chase place and Ryan Sieg winning his first O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race in his 424th start. The week ahead moves from drag racing's U.S. Nationals to Darlington's first Chase races, COTA's Mustang Challenge and World of Outlaws sprint cars at Huset's Speedway. 123

This issue covers Aug. 24-30 results and the Aug. 31-Sep. 6 watch list. All times below are UTC.

Ryan Preece won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway by 0.024 seconds over Daniel Suárez. Preece led five laps and took the 16th and final Cup Chase place, 17 points ahead of Shane van Gisbergen. The race went six laps beyond its scheduled distance after overtime. 14

The late sequence decided the cutoff. Carson Hocevar's Lap 155 crash created the first overtime. On the final overtime lap, Tyler Reddick and Zane Smith tangled on the backstretch, and the caution ended Preece's fuel-saving run. Van Gisbergen finished 28th after a late pit stop, while Brad Keselowski was eliminated from postseason contention. 1

Denny Hamlin enters The Chase as the No. 1 seed, followed by Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suárez, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece. The 10-race championship pursuit begins at Darlington on Sunday. 5

Ryan Sieg won the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona by 0.149 seconds over Austin Hill. The victory came in Sieg's 424th O'Reilly Series start. Carson Kvapil led 50 of the 105 laps, but the final caution erased his late advantage and put the race into a two-lap overtime. Sieg gained position after the last pit stop and passed Kvapil and Justin Allgaier on the restart. 26

The 12-driver O'Reilly Chase field is Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Corey Day, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray and Rajah Caruth. Taylor Gray took the final place; Brent Crews and William Sawalich missed the postseason after entering Daytona one point above the cutline. 7

Rico Abreu won the 72nd Mike Curb Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. Abreu beat Brent Marks by 0.460 seconds after a red flag on Lap 34 created a six-lap sprint to the finish. The win paid $100,072 and gave Abreu his third Gold Cup title. 8

No WeatherTech SportsCar Championship or Michelin Pilot Challenge race fell inside Aug. 24-30. IMSA's current calendar places the next WeatherTech race, the TireRack.com Battle on The Bricks, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sep. 18-20; the next Michelin Pilot Challenge race is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 on Sep. 19. 910

The IMSA event at Circuit of The Americas on Sep. 4-6 is the Mustang Challenge, with two races and global streams on YouTube and IMSA.TV alongside Peacock coverage. Race 1 runs Saturday evening; Race 2 runs Sunday morning. 11

Joe Gibbs Racing extended Brandon Jones through the 2027 O'Reilly season in the No. 20 Menards Toyota. The deal keeps Jones with JGR for an eighth season together and completes the team's full-time 2027 O'Reilly lineup. 12

NASCAR also confirmed a 2027 return to Naval Base Coronado. The Cup race is scheduled for Aug. 1, 2027, while the O'Reilly event is scheduled for July 31; the Cup race will serve as the 2027 In-Season Challenge championship round. The 2027 weekend will use the 16-turn, 3.4-mile Qualcomm Circuit, and the Truck Series will not return to San Diego. 13

The 2026 Cup finale also put NASCAR's revised rules in public view. The returning Chase format removed the previous last-race win-and-in path. Daytona used a shorter spoiler, reduced horsepower and zero practice, a package intended to increase drafting passes and reduce fuel-saving laps. The regular-season champion began The Chase with a 2,100-point seed, with 25 points between the top two seeds. 14

Darlington is the main decision point: Preece arrives with the final Cup Chase berth, Allgaier leads the 12-driver O'Reilly field, and both series begin their postseason formats. Indianapolis handles the NHRA title cutoff, while Huset's and COTA give the week its sprint-car and sports-car alternatives. 571516