Preece fastest in final Daytona 500 practice

Ryan Preece was fastest in the final practice session for the Daytona 500 Saturday afternoon, and in what was the final practice session for Cup Series teams on a superspeedway for the 2026 season.

Preece and RFK Racing set the fastest lap mark at 192.819 mph (46.676s). He ran 27 total laps.

“I have a tremendous amount of confidence in this team, and they’ve buckled down and hustled to clean this backup Ford Mustang Dark Horse with the No. 17 Body Guard colors, and we’re rockin’ and rolling,” Preece said. “It’s nice to take these Ford Mustangs and put them in a line and be able to put some speed up on the board. We know we were able to in the duels, and I think we’ve got a good handle on it. 

“We’ve got plenty of laps, so I’m ready for the 500 now. We get to watch this thing unfold at least for the drop of the green and work hard to go up there and be a part of it.”

It ended up being an RFK Racing sweep at the top of the leaderboard by the end of the 50-minute session.

Chris Buescher was the second fastest, and co-owner Brad Keselowski was third fastest. Buescher’s fast lap was 192.786 mph, and Keselowski’s fast lap was 192.583 mph.

Ryan Blaney was the fourth fastest at 192.480 mph, and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano completed the top five. Logano clocked in at 192.472 mph.

Logano ran the most laps of any driver in practice at 32. The fewest laps run was by William Byron at two.

Ross Chastain was sixth fastest at 192.345 mph, Chase Elliott was seventh fastest at 192.184 mph, and AJ Allmendinger was eighth fastest at 190.917 mph. BJ McLeod was the ninth fastest at 190.739 mph, and Cody Ware completed the top 10 at 190.739 mph.

Only 18 teams participated in the session, which wasn’t unusual. The agendas become split by competitors as the week goes on regarding on-track time, and Saturday saw some get on track for different amounts of time, some not practice at all, and others going through the inspection process in the garage.

Daytona 500 polesitter Kyle Busch was among the drivers who did not practice. Busch will try to win his first Daytona 500 in his 21st attempt.

NEXT: The 68th running of the Daytona 500 at 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday.