“I Gamble Every Day of My Life”: Ryan Preece on Racing in Vegas and Target for 2024 Ahead of Silly Season

Ryan Preece will race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the final time in a Stewart-Haas Racing car on Sunday. The No. 41 driver recently spoke about the similarities between gambling in Vegas and racing on the city’s race track. He enjoys gambling occasionally and considers it a great way to use his free time, so he is quite the right person to draw this relation.

He said, “I’m a racecar driver, so I gamble every day of my life. It’s no different when I go to Vegas and decide to visit a casino to see if I can make some money.” Preece doesn’t have the best racing record on the track. He has started nine races there and finished in the top 15 just once. Perhaps his gambling record is better.

NASCAR drivers gamble with strategies, their health, and a plethora of other crucial factors each time they head to race. None knows this better than Preece. The 33-year-old was a victim in one of the most horrifying crashes in history last year at Daytona. His car barrel-rolled multiple times during the race before coming to a fiery halt. Fortunately, he wasn’t severely injured.

It has been a while since he won a race. Stewart-Haas Racing has not been performing well since he joined, either. The future looks uncertain, but rumors about him joining RFK Racing have been circulating. If true, fans can see him competing for wins next season.

What does the future hold for Preece?

This will be Stewart-Haas Racing’s last season in NASCAR. Each of the team’s four drivers, apart from Preece, has a Cup Series seat for next season. Although no official word has come of it, Brad Keselowski appears to be moving RFK Racing towards the status of a three-car operation.

If he decides to make the transition in as early as 2025, Preece is unquestionably one of his best choices to sign on as a driver. He said to The Athletic last month, “We don’t have any announcements that we’re ready to make, but hopefully we’ll have something to share with everybody here in the next month or so. But nothing publicly that I’m ready to talk about.”

On the topic of gambling, the move would be a risk for both parties if it happens. RFK Racing is on the verge of becoming a major power in the Cup Series and choosing the wrong driver can set them back by several steps. Preece, on the other hand, has not been in a capable car for a long time. It is his entire legacy that he would be putting on stake by joining RFK Racing.