Preece Not Giving Up On Cup Series Playoff Chances

Ryan Preece (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

CONCORD, N.C. – In his career, Ryan Preece has been used to doing things the hard way. The next challenge on his agenda is to make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs in year one at RFK Racing.

With three races remaining until the postseason, Preece sits 23 points behind teammate Chris Buescher for one of the three remaining spots. After finishing fifth last weekend at Iowa Speedway, the hunt towards a postseason berth continues on Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l.

“I think road courses have been pretty good to us, but you never know. There’s a lot of chaos at the end of them and we need to put ourselves in position to execute if [Shane van Gisbergen] were to have something go wrong,” said Preece. “I feel like Chris Buescher is going to be tough to beat at the road course, but I feel good there.

“I also feel good at Richmond [on Aug. 16]. As you guys saw at Talladega, we were really fast and I feel like we will have an opportunity to win at Daytona. I’m sure I’m not on everybody’s bingo card to win, but I’d love to be the guy that upsets everybody.”

This season the 34-year-old has two finishes of seventh or better on short tracks which will help at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. And on superspeedways, he led laps in the Daytona 500 and at the spring Talladega race earlier in the year.

On road courses Preece has three straight top 15s, with a best result of seventh in the Chicago (Ill.) Street Race. He finished ninth last fall with Stewart-Haas Racing at Watkins Glen, where the Cup Series is this weekend.

Those metrics all build confidence for Preece, as he looks to pull off an upset by getting into the playoff field. He would become the first driver since Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain to make the postseason in year one of an expansion car with a new team.

“My path has been nothing short of the easy route. Do I wish I could have had the easy route? If somebody had presented it to me, I wouldn’t say no, but there’s been a lot of things that I’ve learned along the way,” said Preece. “I’ve learned who I want to be as a race car driver, and then when it comes to facing a challenge how to persevere and execute. All of the lessons I’ve learned have made me better. I’m happy I ended up taking the road that I did, and the path that I am on now.

“Was it a long one? For sure. There are points where it sucked,” he said. “But at the same time that reward of success is going to feel that much sweeter.”

Preece bounced around on his road to a full-time competitive Cup Series team. He started on a part-time deal with Premium Motorsports in the Cup Series, then had a stint with Joe Gibbs Racing in NASCAR Xfinity Series action, where he won two races between 2017 and 2018.

After that he ran full-time in Cup for JTG Daughtery Racing (now Hyak Motorsports) for three years, which featured ups and downs. But then he moved back to a part-time role with Rick Ware Racing after JTG downsized and stuck with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Over the course of that process, he picked up an opportunity with Stewart-Haas Racing as their reserve and simulator driver, but during that time he had opportunities in the Craftsman Truck Series, where two wins at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway helped reignite his career.

From there he spent two full-time seasons with SHR. Then for the second time in his career, he fell victim to his job being cut. Stewart-Haas downsized and became what’s now Haas Factory with Cole Custer.

At that point, Preece considered returning to his hometown of Berlin, Conn., and resuming as a full-time Whelen Modified Series driver, which likely would’ve ended his NASCAR national series tenure.

But then came RFK Racing and co-owner Brad Keselowski with an opportunity to race full-time in its newly added No. 60 car.

Now, in a career season, Preece has three top fives, 10 top 10s, sits 13th in the regular-season point standings and holds an average finish of 16th place, all career bests.

The next major achievement: making the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career.

“I’ve always known that we could compete and execute and – not that I care what others think, but it’s felt like I had to convince others. Outside of this national level sport, whatever I race, if it’s a late model or a modified car, we’ve gone out, executed and won,” he said.

“So I knew all along that given the right opportunity and everything coming together, that I could go do this. It’s satisfying because this has been a grind,” Preece added. “I’m grateful for the opportunity that’s been put together with everybody at RFK. To be able to work hard on this road map to succeed has been great.”

Preece said he’s not concerned about racing his RFK teammates for one of the remaining playoff spots. He said they will race with etiquette and respect up until the final moment of the regular season.

But if any of their cars are in position to make the postseason on the final lap of the finale at Daytona, then they’ll do what’s best for their individual team.

“I want to make the playoffs. I could tell there weren't a lot of people that have us on their bingo card, and I like that. I look forward to these next three races as opportunities to try and win our way in,” he said. “If not, we’re gonna look at those next 10 races and use them as a way to build, win and carry that momentum into next year.”

Coverage of the Go Bowling at the Glen begins Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. ET on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.