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Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Photo: Michael Jaworecki/Myracenews.
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, is coming off a fifth place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. He’s currently 23 points behind teammate Chris Buescher for the final playoff spot as the series heads to Watkins Glen International. Preece spoke about his situation as part of the weekly Ford Performance media call.
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – LAST WEEKEND AT IOWA DIDN’T START OUT AS PLANNED, BUT YOU CAME AWAY WITH A FIFTH PLACE FINISH. HOW DID THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? “Yeah. I mean, from ultimately how it started, which wasn’t that great. I thought we were in for a long day. We caught a break at the beginning of stage two and that pretty much gave us the opportunity to make some good adjustments, get some track position and execute on restarts. I really thought we were gonna have a shot at it there and maybe possibly pull off an upset at the end of stage three when we finally got going, but I just built too loose to where we could continue to push those guys, but certainly nothing to be disappointed on with coming out of Iowa with a fifth place finish for Mohawk Northeast. I’m excited about getting to Watkins Glen this weekend.”
NASCAR HAS ADDED A FLAP BY THE A-POST FOR DAYTONA. HAVE YOU LOOKED AT IT OR HAS IT NOT BEEN ON YOUR RADAR? “I haven’t put a whole lot of thought into it yet. I believe all of us saw some of these changes a few weeks ago. I’ve just been so focused on each week that I’m sure I’ll get the update and all of the other stuff from Derrick (Finley) when Daytona week comes because outside of, I don’t really feel like it’s gonna affect anything on my side, so I don’t really know what to think. Hopefully, I’m not the one spinning sideways to test it.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE NEXT THREE RACES AND YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING TO GET IN? “I think road courses have been pretty good to us. You never know. There’s a lot of chaos at the end of them. At the end of the day, we just need to put ourselves in position to execute if SVG were to have something go wrong or what-not. I feel like Chris (Buescher) is gonna be tough to beat at the road course, so I feel good there. I feel good at Richmond. As you guys saw at Talladega, we were really, really fast and I felt like we were gonna have an opportunity to win there, so I’m sure I’m not on everybody’s Bingo card to win, but I’d love to be the guy that upsets everybody.”
HOW INTENSE ARE THE STRATEGY MEETINGS THIS WEEK WHEN YOU BALANCE POINTS VERSUS GOING AGAINST YOUR TEAMMATE FOR A WIN? “I guess we’ll see how intense it is this afternoon because it’s typically on Wednesdays, but I think we’re just gonna continue doing our deal and that’s kind of being different from most. Chris and Scott have had a lot of success doing it the way they do it. Me, I think we’re both gonna kind of go down the path that we’ve been doing and that’s all you can do. I really feel strongly that we are coming into our own and really starting to execute races really well, even on days when we aren’t the fastest car. That makes me feel pretty good about these next few weeks.”
ELTON SAWYER SAID EARLIER THIS WEEK THAT NASCAR HAS BEEN OPENLY INTIMATING THAT THEY ARE LOOKING TO INCREASE HORSEPOWER IN 2026. DO YOU HAVE AN EXPECTATION OF HOW MUCH THEY ARE LOOKING TO INCREASE IT BY? “That’s a really tough deal to answer because I don’t know all the pieces. What I do know is that it is, from the driver’s standpoint, I wish we would be able to go to test and over shoot it – give us too much and just have to dial it back from there because I feel like we need – I know 1,000 horsepower seems like a big number, but, in my eyes, with the car weighing 3500 pounds, you’re gonna need a big percentage increase to notice, I think, what we’re trying to accomplish. I think there are so many different ways you can go about it. I’d just like to see us try to test on the a lot more side.”
RICHMOND IS AFTER WATKINS GLEN AND WE ONLY GO THERE ONCE A YEAR NOW. WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO SEE FROM THAT WEEKEND IN TERMS OF FAN SUPPORT OR ANYTHING ELSE? “Obviously, Richmond is a staple when it comes to NASCAR and the schedule. I think it’s gonna be packed. Going there one time a year and really just the racing that it’s gonna put out there is gonna be second to none. I’m excited about it. Also, I think for a lot of us I believe we’re running the option tire that we ran last year, and maybe somebody can correct me if I’m wrong, but that will create a different dynamic as well.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE RACING AGAINST YOUR TEAMMATE FOR PLAYOFF SPOT? “To be honest with you, Chris and I race really well together, so I think we have enough respect for each other on the racetrack to do it the right way, and we’re gonna race hard. I think between this week and next week, I think both of us – he sees Watkins Glen as a great opportunity to go win and get himself in, and the way I need to race it is gonna change throughout that race. From there, that will lead into Richmond and if the points battle is really close going into Daytona, obviously, we’re gonna take care of each other when it comes to superspeedways and the last few laps you’ve just got to do the best you can to try and win that race. So, I’m not really entirely sure of how to approach it, other than the way we’ve been doing it all year, which is take care of each other and race each other with a lot of respect and don’t wreck each other.”
WOULD IT BE EASIER IF IT WASN’T YOUR TEAMMATE FOR THE FINAL SPOT? “I don’t think I would change anything. I typically try to race everybody with the level of respect that I would want back and when I’m not raced that way, they just get raced the same way back. I don’t necessarily think that I would go and wreck somebody to try and get points like that. I’m just gonna race everybody the way I’d want to be raced.”
HOW DO YOU STAND ON THE CONVERSATION AROUND THE PLAYOFF FORMAT AND WHETHER IT SHOULD BE CHANGED? “I think, for me, growing up racing everything you always race it was a season long endeavor. So, I am a fan of not taking an entire season and throwing it away based off one race, or vice versa. It can potentially change your entire season. I think there’s a lot of merit to having to put together 10 months or nine months, or whatever it is, of going and succeeding. I don’t know, but at the same time this is the world we live in. This is the season we’re racing and you could choose to focus on certain racetracks and expectations and hopes of executing and winning and that change your entire season, but that’s the world we live in right now. Whatever the format ends up being is what it’s gonna be and what I’m gonna try to maximize.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR CAREER AND AT THIS POINT TO BE RACING TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN THIS TYPE OF POSITION? “That’s a great question and, to be honest, I’ve always known that we could compete and execute and do all those things, and I think some – not that I care what other think, but it’s felt like I had to convince others. Outside of this national level sport, whatever I go race, whatever it may be, if it’s a late model or a modified and to where I felt like I had some sort of control over my destiny, we’ve gone out and we’ve executed and we’ve won. So I knew all along that given the right opportunity and everything coming together, that I could go do this, so, for me, it’s satisfying because this has been a grind. I’ll use Michael McDowell as another example of years and years of grinding and grinding to put together opportunities to where you can succeed. I’m grateful for the opportunity that’s been put together with everybody at RFK. To be able to go show this and have a road map to succeed and work hard, and if you put in all of that time that you’ll see the success. So, it would be nice to go out and win this weekend or one of these next three weeks, or have the opportunity to point our way in. I want to make the playoffs. That’s what we kind of said. We want to make the playoffs going into the year and, to be honest with you, I could tell there weren’t a lot of people that have us on their Bingo card, and I like that. I thrive off that, so, for me, now from a racer’s standpoint I want to win, and I don’t want to just win once I want to win a lot. We’re building that notebook and together as a group to be able to do that, so I look forward to these next three races as opportunities to try and win our way in, but if not, we’re gonna look at those next 10 races and use them as a way to build and even try to win and finish out this year and then carry that momentum into next year.”
HOW MUCH PATIENCE IS THERE OR IS THERE IMPATIENCE IN TRYING TO GET THIS DONE NOW? “I’ll tell you what, my path has been nothing short of the easy route. Do I wish I could have had the easy route? If somebody presented it to me I wouldn’t say no, but there’s been a lot of things that I’ve learned along the way – experiences, 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 up to this point have made me better as a race car driver, so I’m happy I ended up taking the road that I did, and I’m on the path that I am now. Was it a long one? For sure. There are points where it sucks, but at the same time that reward of success or succeeding and doing all of those things is gonna feel that much sweeter.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE MINDSET OF RACING AT DAYTONA, ESPECIALLY WITH THE STRESS INVOLVED, AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS? “Hopefully I’m locked in at that point, but, if not, you’re in a situation where you’ve got to race hard all day. You need to execute stage points. You need to finish the race. You need to put yourself into having the opportunity to win that race and the challenging thing of it being Daytona is there are a lot of things that are in your control, but there are just as many things that are out of your control. If we can go out and execute like we did at Talladega, which was having a really successful point day and finish, and we do that at Daytona, we’re gonna be just fine.”
AFTER IOWA YOU SAID WHEN YOU WERE RACING BRAD THAT YOU DID WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS THE RIGHT THING FOR THE COMPANY. HOW GUTWRENCHING WAS IT TO LET HIM GO AT THAT POINT? “I don’t think it would have been the smart decision considering he’s not only my teammate, but he’s also part of the owner group. I didn’t necessarily let him go, I just didn’t fight him as hard as I could have. At that point in time, they had won two stages. They had a really fast car and I didn’t want to be the reason that in our Monday morning meeting if I held him up for 15 laps and then he happened to run down those guys and have a shot at winning if he had five more laps, I didn’t want to have that conversation. From the teammate perspective, I would hope it would be the same, and I feel like it definitely would. There was a point earlier in the race that he probably could have forced the issue and potentially put me a lap down, but I was racing my butt off to stay on the lead lap and that was part of what kept us there.”
