What NASCAR drivers said after Daytona Cup win by Ryan Preece

Ryan Preece — winner: “I’m just speechless right now. But those guys, that 60 group, we’re fighters. When you put our back against the wall, we swing hard. So thank you to RFK, Jack Roush, the Fenway Group. Brad Keselowski. Last year there were a lot of
keyboard warriors saying I was nothing. Well, we just kicked their butts tonight. It’s a testament of how prepared these race cars are, man. I’m a racer. I know what it takes to
build speed. So every man and woman at RFK, thank you for giving me a rocket ship so I could go to the moon tonight. This is redemption.”

Austin Cindric — sixth: “Obviously, we had a strong Ford Mustang. We were able to get to the front when we needed to at times. I hate we weren’t able to capitalize and lead as many laps as we did in stage two to give ourselves a larger buffer for the final stage, but the guys did a great job of keeping me informed with what I needed to do to keep ourselves out front and get back to the front. Everything we needed to do we checked the boxes tonight. For us, it was fairly simple on how to control our destiny and obviously dodge the wrecks. That was the huge part, but as far as I understand it’s a best-case scenario for Ford tonight. I’m super proud of everybody and we’re ready to go chase for a championship. I think, for us, we’ve got to absolutely kill it to think we have a shot at a championship with the way that the points reset, but this team is capable of a lot and I want to see how far we can go. I think there’s a lot of variables and I don’t mean to downplay it, but there were certainly a lot of variables going into the night. We weren’t all on top of each other, so I felt like in a lot of ways it was somewhat more simplified of how the race was gonna play out after I was able to watch and observe. I thought our car was good enough to charge back through when needed and obviously we got ourselves in position. The guys did a great job of giving me information all night, whether it was points or fuel and how to adapt. That’s what it takes to be a contender at a minimum, but definitely look for a strong 10 weeks from us.”

Zane Smith — 32nd: “I just got wrecked. I haven’t really seen a replay to break it down, but it’s just unfortunate to come that close and have it not work out. I haven’t seen a replay. It felt like I didn’t even get a shot to survive with (Tyler Reddick) and just got wiped out.”
Shane van Gisbergen — 27th: “Congrats to the 60. But one night doesn’t sum up our year. I guess we haven’t been good enough. It’s been cool to be close. Yeah, shame we’re not in it. Bits of it were good, as a team obviously we struggled. I’m proud that I’ve been able to match my teammates on the ovals. I think I’ve stepped up this year. But yeah, obviously you want to be in that Chase. Didn’t make it.”

Ryan Blaney — 33rd: “(The Chase) will be different from what we’ve had the last little bit, but I think everyone was kind of used to that growing up or prior or things like that, so I really don’t think you’re just gonna have to know that you’re not gonna be able to really afford any mistakes. Things are gonna fluctuate up and down, for sure.”

WILL BE UPDATED