There have been 30 drivers, including 29 full-time competitors, who have finished at least one NASCAR Cup Series race inside the top seven through the first 22 races of the 2026 season.
RFK Racing's Ryan Preece isn't one of them. Yet he has been lurking either barely inside or barely outside of the provisional 16-driver postseason picture for pretty much the entire year.
Preece has taken advantage of the fact that consistency matters more under the new playoff format than it did under the previous one, and despite being more of a low-upside driver than many of the drivers who are not even anywhere near the cut line, his 15 finishes between eighth and 18th place have him in position to potentially secure his first career playoff berth.
Ryan Preece still in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff hunt
When Team Penske's Joey Logano vaulted his way inside the top 16 with his dominant victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway, it was Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones who fell to 17th, making him the top driver below the cutoff.
But Jones finished 27th in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while Preece, who finished 10th at North Wilkesboro, matched his season-best effort in eighth at Indy, giving him back-to-back top 10 finishes for the first time in 2026.
As a result, Preece moved six points ahead of the driver of the No. 43 Toyota for the top spot below the cut line. The driver of the No. 60 Ford is 38 points behind Team Penske's Austin Cindric for that 16th and final playoff spot, and he'd actually only be 13 back if not for a 25-point penalty levied by NASCAR after he intentionally wrecked Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway in early May.
He may not have a high ceiling, but there is a very real chance that Ryan Preece could back his way into the playoffs simply by avoiding disastrous results over the course of the regular season's final four races at Iowa Speedway, Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Daytona International Speedway.
Of course, there's just as much of a chance that that aforementioned 25-point penalty effectively ends up removing him from the 16-driver playoff field as well.
Following the off weekend, Iowa Speedway is scheduled to kick off a 14-week stretch to conclude the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with the Iowa Corn 350 on Sunday, August 9. Live coverage is set to be provided by USA Network beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action to conclude the season!
