Ryan Preece has never been very successful racing on superspeedways during his NASCAR Cup career. But that all changed in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Well, for at least an hour, that is.
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Preece crossed the finish line in second place, just missing out on his first career Cup win, winding up a close 0.022 seconds behind race winner Austin Cindric. Preece was ecstatic after the race, to say the least. He was in another stratosphere emotionally.
“You want to win, that’s what we come here to do.” Preece told Frontstretch.com. “We don’t come out here to just be in the show and blend in. We come here to win.
“In the last five or six years, I’ve done a lot of freakin’ losing, so I feel like the dues are paid and I’m putting in a lot of work.”
Unfortunately, a post-race inspection found there were an illegal three shims instead of two on a spoiler on Preece’s RFK Racing Ford. As a result, what had been Preece’s best day ever as a Cup racer had suddenly morphed into his worst day ever.
Instead of a career-best finish, Preece wound up with a 38th-place, one of the worst – and most heartbreaking – finishes he’s had in his seven-year Cup career. Kyle Larson finished second after Preece’s DQ. Larson lost to Austin Cindric by a mere 0.056 seconds. However, before the post-race inspection, Preece spoke to the media and was ready to drive home in celebratory fashion.
“I’m proud of second place, proud of the execution, thought we did a great job,” he said. “I’m not going to go home and drink beer and say, ‘Hell, yeah.’ But if I want to be drinking beer and celebrating with my friends, instead I’m going to jump in my motor home and drive six hours thinking about what could I have done in that last half-lap?”
On second thought, it would not be a surprise if Preece instead chose to stay overnight in the Talladega infield – and drown his sorrows with maybe a 24-pack of beer after the disqualification decision came down from NASCAR.
Rebounding after Stewart-Haas debacle
Growing up in his native Connecticut, Ryan Preece was very successful as a racer, particularly competing in modifieds at short tracks throughout the Northeast United States.
But when it comes to NASCAR superspeedways at Talladega and Daytona, he’s had marginal success. RFK Racing threw Preece a lifeline after his previous home at Stewart-Haas Racing shut its doors after last season.
He has repaid the belief of RFK’s owners Jack Roush, John Henry and Brad Keselowski. Sunday would have been the second time in five races that he earned a career-best finish, having previously ended up third at Las Vegas.
“We’re getting closer and closer, I think,” Preece said before his DQ. “I don’t know if people kind of write me off just because of the past, previous years. But I think we’ve proven we’re going to be a threat at short tracks, mile-and-a-half’s, superspeedways and road courses.”
“As a group, we’re going to keep pushing and work on the details, but I felt like we did everything right. We just needed that little bit (extra),” he went on to add.
Due to the disqualification, Preece is back to where he was before Talladega: one top-five and two other top-10 finishes in the first 10 races of the season. What may hurt the most – and cause Preece to have a lot more beers – is that he was 12th in the Cup standings after his initial runner-up finish. But after the DQ, he now sits a dismal 18th.
Even so, what he said post-race but pre-DQ still stands: “As a competitor and racer, we want to win,” Preece said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with a second, because I’m not upside-down or didn’t finish 32nd.”
Ironically, one of the things Ryan Preece said before his disqualification had an eerie tone to it, as if he knew more beer would soon be in his future. He had said, “A lot of people have motor coach drivers,” Preece said. “I’m my motor coach driver so when you win, it makes that ride a lot better. (But) when you don’t win, you spend six hours thinking what would I have done different? So now, there’s going to be some what ifs when I drive home.”
