For RFK, Daytona Isn’t Just a Race—It’s a Rescue Mission

PXL_20250822_182914547 — (Photo: Greg Engle CupScene.com)

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For so many race teams heading into Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 a trophy hoist in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale will be the ultimate in clutch efforts – the kind of championship chance that can revitalize and redirect the season.

Fourteen of the 16 eligible 2025 Playoff positions have been determined based on race wins, leaving two more spots to be solidified in what is a typically action-packed event on the Daytona 2.5-mile high banks on the last night of the regular season.

At the drop of the green flag, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman hold the two transferable points positions in the standings. But a new winner on the season would mean only one driver advances based on points. Reddick starts the race 29 points up on Bowman, who is 60-points up on the remaining drivers in the field without a win.

All three Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teams are among those needing a Daytona trophy for a shot at the title run.

The 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski won this summer race in 2017 and teammate Chris Buescher won it in 2023. However, none of the team’s three drivers, owner-driver Keselowski (No. 6 RFK Ford), Buescher (No. 17 RFK Ford) nor Ryan Preece (No. 60 RFK Ford) have celebrated any victory this year.

In fact, it’s been nearly three months since any Ford team won a race (Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney at Nashville on June 1) and it all creates a rather dramatic Daytona dynamic for the highly-motivated RFK trio, which fully expects their teamwork to be especially key this weekend.

“When we’re around each other it’s not a competitive nature of ‘Hey, I need to beat my teammate,’” Preece said. “It is ‘hey, what I can do to help him’ just as I assume it is when he’s around me I notice that same reciprocation that whenever I need help, he helps me or if I catch him at a mile-and-a-half [track] he doesn’t make it very difficult for me to get by.

“He’ll help me as I feel like he does for Brad and I do for Brad and he does for us. It’s a relationship and a great team atmosphere to make sure at the end of the day we’re all getting the best results for our team. If we’re racing for one-two-three then we’ve got to race but if one of us is extremely fast in that moment I think we are all good with our race craft and our race knowledge and not going to hurt each other. We’re all trying to rise each other up.”