AllRacing

You can call him Ryan ‘Relevant’ Preece

Ryan Preece is living on the right side of relevance in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“Our sport is really naïve to some things,” Preece tells RACER. “One of those things is if you’re not in the equipment or the situation that is right.”

In his sixth full season as a Cup Series driver, Preece is not unfamiliar with the highs and lows of racing. There was a fight to do more with less at JTG Daugherty Racing, not having a full-time ride in 2022 but aligning himself with Stewart-Haas Racing, and then came the chance to drive a Stewart-Haas car for two seasons, in which the organization looked like a shell of its former self and the expectations, at least from the outside looking in, were low.

All of that followed the years in which Preece put together whatever deals he could to get behind the wheel. Plus, years where he bet on himself by not running full-time in what could have been less than stellar equipment, and instead pushed his chips in on taking what races he could put together with Joe Gibbs, which resulted in two Xfinity Series wins.

“I don’t think half of this field has ever had to stick used tires on a race car because that’s what the owner had to do to get by,” he says. “That was the first four years of my national level career – ’13, ’14, ’15, and ’16 – using used tires. So, it’s been nice to be with Brad [Keselowski] because I finally feel like I’m racing again with certain things.

“The flip side of that, there is a lot of confidence you lose as a race car driver. That’s why I would go race a modified or whatever. … I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity.”

RFK Racing expanded to a third team with the signing of Preece. The former Cup Series champion turned team co-owner, alongside Jack Roush, recognized that Preece had not been in the best situations in his career, and Keselowski pledged to put him where he could win.

Brad Keselowski (left) has given Preece the tools to succeed. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Over the last few weeks, it has become more and more evident that Preece and the No. 60 team are not far off from doing exactly that. Preece, led by crew chief Derrick Finley, competitively ran and finished inside the top at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (fourth) and Iowa Speedway (fifth).

But those are the two more recent shining moments. Preece is 13th in the championship standings – the highest he has ever sat this deep into a season – on the strength of 10 top-10 finishes. It’s a single-season career high by double what he’d previously earned in a season (five in 2024). The three top-five finishes Preece has earned are also a single-season career high.

Preece has long been a driver that many within the industry were confident could be a contender if given the right opportunity. Such as the one he has with RFK Racing, which, in a way, makes the performance not at all surprising.

“I’ve been all over the map,” Preece says. “When I say all over the map, I’ve done a lot of the roles of what it takes to be fast or win races. I have a strong understanding of what it takes to win races, not at just at the Cup level or the Xfinity or Truck level. But hell, if you’re racing a freaking late model or super late model of modified. So, it’s interesting to me that some people, even at this level, have never had to go through the struggles. They don’t realize all the things that it takes to succeed.

“And don’t get me wrong, you can have the best situation in the garage, but if you don’t put the work in, you’re not going to succeed. It takes the whole pie. I think that’s the strongest thing I can say. … I’m happy the situation has turned out the way it has.”

Preece ranks third in the Cup Series for laps completed this season (99.3 percent). He ranks fifth in the series with the most top-10 finishes earned.