Five weeks ago, Ryan Preece had a dramatic crash during the Daytona 500, marking a scary start to his time with RFK Racing. Fast forward to Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Preece achieved his best career finish by coming in third after a tough race in Sin City.
Preece started in 12th place but quickly fell to 20th during the first laps. He was stuck in the back of the pack for a while. Although his car didn’t feel right at the beginning of the race, Preece and his crew chief, Derrick Finley, discovered a good setup late in Stage 2, which helped his No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse perform much better.
“Yeah, in the first half of the race, it felt like no matter which lane I chose, it just didn’t work out for me,” Preece said. “Then, right at the end of Stage 2, during that last restart, I moved up from 20th to 11th, and after that, we never lost our position. This Consumer Cellular No. 60 was strong, and I’m really proud of everyone involved.”
Preece’s third-place finish in Las Vegas matched his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series, which was also third place in the 2019 Spring race at Talladega Superspeedway. Although his car performed well in the final laps, he felt he was a bit short on speed to compete for the win against Josh Berry, who finished first, and Daniel Suarez, who came in second.
“They just seemed faster,” Preece remarked. “I had to be careful through the bumps. We were really good, but that was slowing down some of the speed that I think Berry and Suarez had. I just did my best to help Josh stay in position, and I’m glad he could make it work.”
Preece, who was teammates with Berry last season at Stewart-Haas Racing, felt thrilled that his former teammate scored his first career win. He mentioned that he would have to ignore his New Year’s resolution of not drinking beer to celebrate Berry’s success.
“I’m really happy for Josh Berry. Before the season started, we promised each other that if either of us won, we would go out for a beer together,” Preece said. “Looks like I’ll have to break my New Year’s resolution and join him.”
Although many were surprised by his third-place finish, Preece wasn’t. He believed he had a strong car after Saturday’s practice and qualifying. In Sunday’s race, everything came together perfectly in the second half, allowing the No. 60 RFK Racing team to achieve its best finish of the young season.
As the season began, our motto was, “live by the fire, die by the fire,” which means to take risks, be bold, and stay on the attack,” Preece explained. “I’m really thankful to have a great day out here because this is what truly sets the tone at the start of the season.”
Preece leaves the Las Vegas Motor Speedway holding the 18th position in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. His next challenge is the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. At first glance, his track record at Homestead doesn’t seem promising, with finishes of 38th, 25th, 24th, and 21st in his first four NASCAR Cup Series races at the 1.5-mile track.
However, in 2023, Preece achieved a 13th-place finish in his first race driving a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, and he followed that with a 10th-place finish last year at Homestead. With his recent 15th-place finish at Phoenix Raceway, Preece might aim for three top-15 finishes in a row for just the second time in his NASCAR Cup Series career. If he can finish in the top five, it will be the first time he has back-to-back finishes in the top five.
