NASCAR CUP SERIES
NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO 301
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
JULY 30, 2020
RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed the challenges of racing during the COVID-19 pandemic, his aspirations for the rest of the season, the morale of the team, and more. Full Transcript:
HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO GET UP TO NEW HAMPSHIRE THIS WEEK?
“Oh, I’m definitely excited. New Hampshire is home, right? It’s a place that I would consider that I’ve had more laps than probably most that are in the field. And it’s a short track. So, I enjoy going there once a year and I’ve been racing at New Hampshire since 2007 with the Modifieds twice a year. So, it’s a place that I’m very comfortable with.”
THIS YEAR HAS NOT BEEN KIND TO YOU. ARE YOU FRUSTRATED TO THE POINT WHERE YOU JUST WANT TO GO AND RACE MODIFIEDS THE REST OF YOUR LIFE OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WANT TO KEEP DOING THIS?
“Ha! No! I want to keep doing this. I don’t think that anybody who gets to this level wants to just pack their bag and go home. You know, that’s interesting. But no. Definitely not. I’m frustrated because….you know, I’ve always been somebody who has been pretty honest or really honest with some things, and a lot of the things, whenever I hear people talk about bad luck or that, I’ve always been a believer of making your own luck. But this has probably been the first time in my career that I really, wrong place wrong time, things that were out of my control happening. I’m not one to make excuses, but it’s been frustrating for sure. The thing that’s even more frustrating is Kansas. I really don’t know what else I could have done. I don’t think there was anything else I could have done. But we had a fast race car right there, at that point in time when it needed to be and that’s kind of been the case. We’ve struggled at the beginning of the races and then gotten our car better as the Stages have gone on. The only thing you can do at this point is really go and gamble on things. I’ve got nothing else to lose. That’s all I have to say.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY SORENESS OVER THE WEEKEND FROM THE KANSAS CRASH AND ARE YOU OKAY NOW?
“I’m good. I was ready to go as soon as I got out of that race car.”
SOME DRIVERS SAY WHEN THEY’VE HAD A ROUGH STRETCH IN THE CUP SERIES THAT RACING IN OTHER SERIES’ AND TO GET THAT WINNING EXPERIENCE JUST WHEN THINGS ARE KIND OF ROUGH. HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ANYTHING LIKE THAT OR PLANNING TO?
“I think it’s hard right now with the way things are to do it and not know if you’re going to be forced into quarantine or whatever it may be. It’s something that I’d like to do. I love racing. I’m used to racing 60 to 80 times a year, but at the same time my focus is on the Cup series. And, as a racer, that winning feeling is what drives us all, right? It’s not something that I’ll ever forget. I wouldn’t say I need to get in a race car to want to remember what that feeling is. A thing that just popped-up in my timeline the other day was actually three years ago when I won Iowa with JGR, and I said that to my wife. You miss that feeling. You miss the feeling of winning because that’s why we do this. That’s why I do this anyway, is to win races.
“So, I feel like this year has been a trying year in the sense of we had four races where we were able to practice. And this is my first year working with Trent (Owens, crew chief) and every race has been a practice sent for us, right? At Darlington we got Stage points. We were fast. At Talladega we were contending for the lead with five (laps) to go and had to pit. We’ve had things that have been out of our control for the most part that just take us out of those runs that we’ve had; where they have been good. But, the thing that I look forward to the rest of the season is whatever we found at Kansas, toward the middle of that race, that balance; that’s a balance that I can go contend for races, we can have speed, we can run up-front. Like I said earlier, I’m not somebody who will sit here and say things just to say things. I mean them. So, if we can show up at Michigan and have that speed that we had right there at Kansas, I feel like we could be a threat for a top 10 and just execute. That’s really it. So, I look forward to the rest of the year. That’s all you can do at this point is be positive and turn things around because sitting here and talking about 2020 and how this season has gone isn’t going to do anything for us.”
YOU TALKED ABOUT WANTING TO RACE BUT DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE QUARANTINE SITUATION. SOME SPORTS HAVE GONE TO THE BUBBLE. NASCAR IS A DIFFERENT SITUATION WITH DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE LIKE FOR YOU AND HOW DO YOU TRY TO LIVE YOUR LIFE BUT ALSO BE UNDERSTANDING THAT YOU’RE OUT OF THE SEAT IF YOU CATCH THE VIRUS? HOW DO YOU MANAGE THAT AS THIS CONTINUES ON FOR MONTH AFTER MONTH?
“You don’t put yourself in those situations, I guess. That’s really it, I guess, to a certain extent because I want to race. And that’s it.”
IN THESE TIMES WHEN YOU’VE HAD A HARD RUN OF IT, AND YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST RACER TO HAVE THAT HAPPEN. AND THEY COME BACK AROUND. WHO HAS HELPED YOU? WHO TALKS TO YOU AND SAYS YOU’RE GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS?
“Oh, my wife. That’s certainly somebody. She lives with me and so she has to deal with me every day of the week. But it’s funny. There was a point in time, probably four years ago, that I was in a similar rut. It was different but it was the same. And, it’s so easy to become negative and to just constantly get down. And then, I feel like life as you know it, just continues to follow that trend. I feel like I was starting to get into that negative place. I have a book that talks about positive thoughts and positive things and how when you have those positive thoughts, positive things are going to gravitate toward you. And I believe that. I was in that way in 2016 and I said you know what, I’m not going to live like this. I’m going to go home, and things changed in the snap of the fingers. I saw that book a few weeks ago or a month ago and it reminded me you know what? Things can turn around as quick as they can go bad.
“So, you’ve just got to be positive. It’s easier to say than it is to do, but I feel like over the past few weeks of just constantly living that way, things have become easier. My life has become much happier. I’m probably a lot better to be around. And you just put in the hard work, that’s it. Just sitting there hoping things are going to turn around….it doesn’t work like that. Life doesn’t work like that. So, I’m just going to continue fighting and hopefully we can finish 2020 better than we have. Like I said, I am proud of JTG. I’m proud of everything we have done. We’ve had moments of greatness. On our side, we just haven’t been able to finish it. And I feel like the rest of the season, if we can just go and do what we’ve been doing and all the things that we’ve learned, we can be talking two months from now, at the end of October, saying man I wish things went differently early on because the past eight weeks have been fantastic.”
THERE’S A BOOK CALLED ‘FAILING FORWARD’ AND IT SAYS THAT YOUR PARENTS TEACH YOU HOW TO SUCCEED BUT THEY DON’T TEACH YOU HOW TO FAIL. AND EVERY FAMOUS PERSON HAS FAILED BEFORE THEY GOT TO WHERE THEY’RE AT. IN RACING, YOU SAY NOW THAT YOU CAN TAKE CHANCES BUT YOU COULD LOOK AT IT TWO WAYS. YOU COULD TAKE THE CHANCES OR YOU COULD BE PRESSURED INTO HAVING EVEN MORE THINGS HAPPEN JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE FRETTING ABOUT IT. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT IN THE TIGHT SPOTS OF RACING?
“Well, there are pit calls that we can make. We can choose to stay out when others do. Or, choose to pit. And the way that races have been this year, track position means so much, right? And, between that and just other situations. Myself, putting myself in certain situations or even forcing the issues. And the way I’ve look at it, because week in and week out, I’ve watch races after they’re over and before I go to a track. And I’ve noticed that the aggressor seems to be the one making out in these situations. And you guys (media) sees that, too. The one who usually pushes the issue has been the one that keeps racing. Where the guys that tend to be a little bit more timid or err on the side of hey, I don’t want to wreck my car right now, end up wrecking. So, I think every situation is different, for sure. But at the same time, I told this to Trent a few weeks ago. Back in 2007, I wrecked quite a few race cars early on in my career. And I remember sitting in the infield and watching the race finish. And having to sit there the entire time is the worst feeling in the world for a racer like myself. I don’t want to feel that feeling anymore. I want to finish these races and I want to run good. So, I think New Hampshire would be a great place to start that momentum, and then moving on toward Michigan. I look forward to this 2-mile race track. I look forward to this intermediate because of what we had at Kansas. The only thing you can do is keep moving forward.”
YOU SAY YOU TRY TO REMAIN POSITIVE, BUT IT HASN’T BEEN OBVIOUSLY JUST SOME ROUGH MONTHS FOR YOU, BUT ALSO FOR (TEAMMATE) RICKY STENHOUSE, JR., TOO. WHAT IS THE TEAM MORALE LOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW AT JTG?
“I think it’s fine. You know, it is what it is, right? I think everybody is working hard and to sit there and really just talk about July, it’s one of those things where you’ve just got to pick up and move forward. I think at the end of the day, we’re all thinking positive. We’re all working toward the end goal and that’s all you can do. I think the major thing is to just remove any toxic things from your life, and just be happy.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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