Stability is the payoff for perseverance in the rough and tumble world of motorsports.
That’s certainly been the case for NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, the operator of the No. 41 IUOE Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Preece, 32, is a native of Berlin, Conn., who methodically worked his way up through the NASCAR hierarchy to the fringes of the Cup Series Tour.
Reese’s fortunes took an upswing when he gained the confidence of upper management at SHR and took over the No. 41 from Cole Custer. That’s the closet thing to job security that an upstart driver can expect while establishing his presence on the Cup Series Tour.
“Coming from where I have come from and the work I have put in and everything it takes to get to this level, it is nice to have people at the organization to have my back,” said Preece.
“At the same time, we can grow and continue to build and continue to get better. I love being at SHR. It’s a place where I’m at the race shop all the time as if it were my own and that’s a lot of fun.
“In (2022) I was there every day doing a lot of simulator work, which as a driver, it is one of those important tools that we have. Also, I was building relationships and showing how badly I wanted that opportunity. I was lucky enough that it all came together and they gave it to me,” he said.
Preece has made 17 starts and is 24th in the driver standings with 290 points coming off a 16th-place finish in the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 25. Preece started 25th and had to overcome a loose ride early in the race to climb nine spots.
Preece has three finishes in the top 10 and earned his first pole at the NICO 400 on the short track at Martinsville on April 16. Preece will make his 18th start in Sunday’s running of the Grand Park 220 on the Chicago Street course, a 2.2-mile layout over a dense urban grid.
“There has been some good and there’s been some bad and we started off with a bang at a non-points race in LA,” said Preece. “Moving forward, we’ve had some bad luck. I’ve never had the number of bad things happen throughout the course of the beginning of the season that did happen.
“But we were able to go to Martinsville and get the pole and the lead lap. There were definitely some takeaways from there and the last five weeks, which is typically a tough stretch, we have been able to put together some pretty consistent runs. I look forward to the second half of the season and building on that momentum.”
Preece credits crew chief Chad Johnston for the team’s recent turnaround and is looking forward to “coming home” on July 16 for the running of the Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Preece enjoyed a distinctively New England upbringing in the world of auto racing. Preece graduated from the ARCA Menards Series West to the grinding discipline of open wheel racing on NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour.
The modifieds are popular in the Northeast and are staged on the short ovals of Northern New England and the tri-state area. Preece made his bones on the Whelen Tour with 25 wins, 81 top five finishes, 110 top 10 finishes and captured the series championship in 2013.
The Rose Bowl of the Whelen Tour is the Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire, which goes off on Saturday, July 15.
“Up here in England there are some really good race-car drivers and the guys that race here are some of the toughest I’ve ever raced against in my life,” said Preece. “Some of the hardest races to win have come on the modifieds and it is something I grew up on.”
Preece moved on to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he registered two wins, eight finishes in the top five and 11 in the top 10. Preece’s next big break was on the Xfinity Tour with Joe Gibbs Racing. In his Xfinity debut with JGR in 2017, Preece finished second at New Hampshire and recorded his first win at Iowa in his next start.
The Cup Series Tour is a small, tight knit, fraternity that draws drivers from all over the country. Preece is the junior partner of the two-man Nutmeg State delegation on the circuit.
The senior partner is reigning Cup Series champion and two-time winner Joey Logano of Middletown, Conn. Logano and Preece came of age racing on the backwater tracks that dot New England and they shared a youthful love affair with New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“Joey and have known each other since we were kids,” said Preece. “He’s a great guy and somebody that I have known for a really long time.
“Mike Joy always says on the (FOX) broadcasts, ‘there goes two Connecticut kids racing against each other.’ Man, that’s a lot of fun.”