Ryan Preece is riding a wave of positive momentum, and he's heading to Las Vegas with one goal in mind: a season-defining payoff. Can he turn potential into victory? After a year of growth, Preece is determined to finish the NASCAR Cup Series strong, carrying invaluable lessons and renewed confidence into the next season, starting with the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday.
"Honestly, the ROVAL was a nice way to kind of get back on track," Preece stated, highlighting a recent performance boost. He acknowledged earlier struggles, explaining, "I felt like there were definitely some runs in August and September that had a lot of potential, it just kind of seemed like we hit a rut and weren’t able to capitalize on some of the days we were having." The ROVAL race, however, acted as a catalyst, breaking them out of that slump. He is also excited about having Crumbl Cookie and Sysco as new partners on the car for RFK. He’s enthusiastic about the upcoming races at Talladega, Martinsville, and Phoenix. "These next four races are all places that I enjoy going to," Preece emphasized, implying a strategic advantage. "We’ve had some good results and a place that we’re going for a second time, so we can still try to capitalize and win before the season is over."
Reflecting on the year, Preece expresses pride in the team's progress. "I’ll be honest with you, I think it shocked a lot of people for a first-year team that has never been together or been at RFK as an organization," he admitted. He emphasizes consistency and growth beyond just winning, stating, "I feel like we’ve executed and done a good job on being consistent and making progress outside of winning." A victory would have secured a playoff spot, but even without it, Preece sees promising signs. "If you take away winning and you’re in, I see some things. I think we’d be like 12th or whatever in points and that’s not something to be upset with. I think that’s a solid foundation towards hopefully a really, really strong contending season next year." He focuses on what he can control, adding, "At the end of the day, all I can do is control the things that I can control. For me, I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress and we continue to make progress and even in moments of adversity we find a way to execute, so I see a really high ceiling on all fronts and that makes me feel really optimistic and excited about 2026."
That sense of perspective, he explains, is hard-earned. "For me, perspective is everything," Preece said, drawing on his diverse racing background. "Coming from New England, coming from modifieds and the background that I come from, there have been different points in my career. There was Ryan Preece the race car driver. Then there was Ryan Preece that had to be a mechanic as well as a race car driver and have to take on a lot of different roles." He highlights the importance of simplification and focus, "Sometimes you need to simplify things and just focus on what your job is, so, for me, it was really tough to separate the guy who built race cars and was trying to understand the setup and why it wasn’t doing what it needed it to do, instead of just worrying about, ‘hey, this is what I need,’ or ‘this is what I need to turn better,’ or ‘I need to be tighter,’ or whatever it may be." Adaptability has been his biggest lesson. Preece credits RFK and his conversations with his wife, Brad Keselowski, and Chris for his growth. "So, I feel like coming over to RFK, a lot of conversations with my wife and great conversations with Brad as well as the relationship I already had with Chris, it was easy to just have honest conversations or at least listening and taking it from a different vantage point and how I needed to adjust myself. I feel like I had a lot of growth this year and that’s been nice."
A significant part of that growth stems from his collaboration with Brad Keselowski, not just as a teammate, but also as a mentor and co-car owner. "Honestly, it would be really tough to put into words on just a Zoom call about how much I’ve really enjoyed working with Brad because I didn’t even realize some of the stories that I’ve learned along the way about him and his career and how many similarities there really are between his career and mine," Preece shared. He emphasizes the shared work ethic, "So just how you have to work hard to get here. For me, that’s been really nice and seeing perspective and how I’ve looked at things and how he looks at things and areas to keep making better, so that’s been nice. My job moving forward is I want to win." But here's where it gets controversial... Preece is not content with just participating. "Even though at the Cup Series level I haven’t won, I’ve won in everything I’ve ever been in and it’s something that I’m not OK, like even though we finished sixth at the ROVAL I find it difficult when people are like, ‘Oh yeah, we finished sixth,’ and they’re happy that week." He acknowledges the challenges of his Cup career, stating, "Now, I’ve had five years of a challenging Cup career, so I find success in that, but I still as a race car driver and as a competitor I’m not OK with it because I want to win." His ambition is clear: "There’s a burning desire to succeed and win and I feel like between these next four races as well as going through next season we’re gonna go do that, and I won’t stop until we do."
Las Vegas holds a special significance for Preece, as it's been one of his strongest tracks this season. Back in March, he secured a remarkable third-place finish after starting 12th, one of his three top-five finishes in 2025. He aims to replicate, or even surpass, that performance in the upcoming South Point 400. "To me, Las Vegas is definitely one of the faster-paced mile-and-a-halves, like true mile-and-a-halves," he explained. And this is the part most people miss: he believes the track has unique characteristics that create great racing. "It has a lot of character. One and two has bumps, which can be pretty sketchy, but there’s multiple ways to make speed, so, for me, that’s what makes it really interesting about it. It’s kind of not the same as the old Atlanta, but there’s a lot of technique to getting around turns three and four and going where people don’t and trying to maximize that, so I think Las Vegas is definitely a place when we as drivers go to a mile-and-a-half, that’s one of the favorites."
With favorable cooler temperatures predicted for Sunday and valuable data from his spring performance, Preece is optimistic about his team's chances for another strong showing, perhaps even securing a victory. "It’s hard to say just yet, but I feel like we’re one step ahead of where we were when we went in March because this is a track that I felt like we had a lot of potential and hopefully we can go execute, we can do all of the things that we need to do and maybe win," he concluded with a hopeful tone.
Preece will be behind the wheel of the No. 41 Crumbl Cookie | Sysco Ford Mustang for Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, striving to close the gap on his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher, who currently holds the 17th position in the Cup standings, the highest among non-Playoff drivers.
Ultimately, is Ryan Preece being realistic about his chances of winning before the season ends, or is this just wishful thinking? Given his history and the challenges he's faced, does he deserve more credit for his persistence than he's received? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Do you think experience is more valuable than raw talent in NASCAR? Let's discuss!
