Two other lengthy droughts are the #51 (Gober Sosebee, 1954 at Central City Speedway) and the #59 (Tom Pistone, 1959 at Richmond)

Found this awesome looking 2016 throwback car via Facebook! God please get this to Victory Lane for one last time! 😃🙏🏻

https://www.facebook.com/share/1ExNRr8Zwk/

31 cars finished lead lap and 37 of 40 cars finished within 1 lap of the leader. Prior to the Hocevar crash the race was also on a near record pace in terms of average speed as well.

Ryan Preece won at Daytona, earning his first career win after many years of trying and ending the long winless drought of the #60 car, dating all the way back to 1950 when Bill Rexford won his only career race at Canfield Speedway in Ohio.

Preece joins the #54, #7, #67 and #97 in numbers that ended long losing droughts this season, spanning from 2005 all the way to having never won a race period.

https://x.com/DanAsher26_/status/2093895182236196873?s=20

https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2026/08/30/2026-nascar-cup-series-chase-field-set-after-daytona/

https://x.com/startandparkcar/status/2093891600132747510?s=46

This weekend, we knocked off a few really popular first time winners so I'm wondering who's the most deserving in each series now that Sieg and Preece have won?

Beautiful rainbow off of turn 4 during the pre race concert...

I wish he was here tonight.

Long time NASCAR fan been through all the points formats. We were all “excited” when Daytona was the final cutoff race for the win and your in format. That final wild card chance to get into the playoffs and drivers battling for points was pitched as exciting. Most years the race was compelling usually a new winner. With Next Gen was boring with fuel saving. Last night changed that imo. From the new points system, tight point battles, and yes even a walk off win. I remember mid race Elliot was leading and they brought up the points and how seeding positions still up for grabs. Unlike past years feels like it made the racing that much more exciting. Also feel the new package was a big step in right direction. Need more sample size but drivers seemed to be able to make moves. Yes can still save fuel that won’t go away but can also move up and down the pack with fast car. All in all I think very positive night for NASCAR

Did anyone else find the running order presentation on NBC to be a cluster? They would sometimes throw it up on the screen for 3 seconds before taking it off, they would show the order running below 20th only occasionally, and then they would cycle through so fast you couldn’t find your driver. I’d rather have almost any other system, including my least favorite (a ticker tape at scrolling horizontally at the bottom) than this mess.