RYAN PREECE
Richmond Advance
No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Event Overview
● Event: Cook Out 400 (Round 23 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 11
● Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
● Layout: .75-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 70 laps / Stage 2: 160 laps / Final Stage: 170 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● While he and his NASCAR Cup Series counterparts take a couple of weekends off with broadcast partner NBC embroiled in its coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, Ryan Preece certainly relishes the opportunity to enjoy the rarity of extended midseason time off with family and friends. But he also admits to a certain inability to keep from thinking about his next race, which will take the driver of the No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing to Richmond (Va.) Raceway for the Aug. 11 Cook Out 400. It’s understandable why Preece would eye the season’s second stop at the .75-mile oval, as it’s the track where he earned a fifth-place finish on July 30, 2023, for what turned out to be his best result of his inaugural season at Stewart-Haas.
● The Cook Out 400 will be Preece’s ninth NASCAR Cup Series start at Richmond with his top-five finish in July 2023 best of all. He started 16th and finished 28th in his most recent Richmond outing March 31.
● Preece has tasted victory at Richmond, which came by way of a dominating run in the September 2021 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event there. He qualified third and led a race-high 98 of 156 laps en route to his 25th of 26 career victories in the series where he’s honed his short-track skills since 2007, earned the 2013 title, and was championship runner-up in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Preece’s 26th career Tour victory came last October just down the road at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
● Outside of the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Richmond, Preece has four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts with a best finish of 16th in his most recent start there in April 2022 for car owner B.J. McLeod. The 33-year-old native of Berlin, Connecticut, also has a September 2015 start at Richmond in the series now known as ARCA Menards Series East, which resulted in a 14th-place finish for car owner Doug Fuller.
● Drivers and their crew chiefs will have options when it comes to choosing what kind of tire they want to bolt onto their racecar at Richmond. Goodyear is bringing a “prime” tire, which is a slick racing tire, and an “option” tire that is also a slick but with a softer, faster-wearing compound. The lettering on the prime tires will be yellow and the lettering on the option tires will be red. In theory, the prime tire will last longer but provide less grip, therefore compromising speed. The option tire will provide maximum grip at the beginning of a run, allowing drivers to make significantly more speed, but their high-degradation rate means that speed will be short-lived. These tire combinations were originally trialed during the NASCAR All-Star Race weekend May 18-19 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Richmond marks the debut of the option tire in a regular-season, points-paying race. Here’s how it will work:
● Teams will get two sets of each tire for practice.
● A set of prime tires must be used during qualifying on Saturday. That set will then be transferred to Sunday’s race allotment.
● Teams get eight sets of sticker tires for the race – six prime sets and two option sets.
● For the race, NASCAR will not mandate when teams use their respective sets. However, all four tires must match at all times.
● There will be a single, 45-minute practice session on Saturday for all cars leading into NASCAR Cup Series qualifying.● Joining Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Richmond is Mohawk Northeast. This weekend marks Mohawk’s second race of 2024 as the primary partner on the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, the first coming June 23 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, where Preece drove to an 11th-place finish. A longtime supporter of Preece, Mohawk is one of the premier heavy-civil contractors in the Northeast. The corporation has been providing the highest-quality construction services to a wide variety of clients. Specializing in heavy highway, railroad, movable and fixed bridges and marine construction, Mohawk has completed countless projects within industry safely, on time and within budget. Mohawk can self-perform all phases of construction, including electrical, mechanical, structural steel repair and erection, deep foundations, pier and bulkheads, fabrication and coating (AISC & SSPC Certified) and a wide range of marine services. With an extensive fleet of cranes, barges, offshore tugboats and many other pieces of heavy equipment, Mohawk is a well-established leader in heavy civil construction. Clients include the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, USACE, General Dynamics – Electric Boat, Connecticut DOT, Massachusetts DOT, New York DOT, Metro North Railroad, Amtrak, and various private sector clients.
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Prior to Richmond, you’ll have back-to-back off-weekends thanks to NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. How big of a deal is that break, not just for you, but also for your crewmembers?
“I think it’s a good opportunity to reset. I feel like, at least at Pocono during the second half of the race before we got wrecked, we were heading in a good direction and probably on a path for a pretty good day, or a decent day. So I feel like there are some things there where we can potentially put some of the pieces of the puzzle together and put an entire weekend together where we unload fast, qualify well and have a good day.”
Formula One has a mandatory two-week summer shutdown, where no work can be done in the race shop, as it’s monitored by the FIA. Would you like to see something similar in NASCAR?
“I think it would be good for everybody, as long as everybody was doing it. I think it needs to be monitored because, selfishly, if other teams are working, you’re getting behind. This is a competitive series and our results are really how everybody’s bills get paid.”
You have this two-week break where you’re not at the track, but how hard is it to turn your mind off from racing?
“For me, it’s not possible. If you’re going to try to stop people from working, I’m not somebody you stop from working. I feel like these two weeks are certainly an opportunity to spend time with your family and try to shut it off. But when you’re trying to compete and do all those things, it’s hard to shut it all off.”
You last raced at Richmond on March 31, which was more than four months ago. How has the competition changed since then?
“People just keep on tweaking on things throughout the year and keep getting better and better, and if you’re that team that, if you just happen to stumble upon something and you don’t continually critique it and make it better, you end up falling behind. I think that’s obviously very evident that this is around the time when teams start turning up the heat or finding things and showing more speed, and we’ll also see more of the speed come playoff time.”
How did that March race at Richmond go for you, and is there anything you can take away from it and apply to your return trip there in August?
“The earlier race this season didn’t go very well for us. We weren’t very good, where I felt like we were really good last year in August and probably going to finish third. So I think there are some things we’ve been working on this year that we can apply and be that much better this August.”
Is there a difference in how Richmond races between the first race in the still comfortable air of spring compared to its second race in the heat of the summer?
“With Richmond starting as late as it does and going into the night, there’s a lot more you can take from the spring than what you could last year. Last year was a day race, and with heat and everything, you were just dealing with track temp and lack of grip. Certainly I think with it being a night race, there are things you can work on from the spring.”
You’ll have the prime tire and the option tire at Richmond, just like what you trialed in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. What was it like at the All-Star Race with the option tire? What kind of strategy went into it, and how do you think it will apply at Richmond?
“I think it opens up the strategy because that tire is faster, and with having a limited amount of sets, if your car is fast and you have track position, you can choose to use that tire later. Or if you’re the guy who qualified 30th and need track position and trying not to go a lap down early, it’s an opportunity to use it to drive forward and get track position and possibly get stage points and try and guarantee you something there. It opens up strategy and, ultimately, you just have to have a car that’s good on both.”
Mohawk has been a longtime supporter of yours. How important has its support been for your career?
“Mohawk is certainly one of the reasons why I’m racing in the Cup Series. They were on the car when I was given a shot to race for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series back in 2017. We finished second at New Hampshire and won Iowa with Mohawk on the car in my first two races with Gibbs, and those races are what ultimately changed my life. They’ve been a great partner and I’m looking forward to having them back on the car at Richmond.”
No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Team Roster
Primary Team Members
Driver: Ryan Preece
Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut
Crew Chief: Chad Johnston
Hometown: Cayuga, Indiana
Car Chief: Jeremy West
Hometown: Gardena, California
Engineer: Marc Hendricksen
Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey
Spotter: Tony Raines
Hometown: LaPorte, Indiana
Over-The-Wall Members
Front Tire Changer: Devin Lester
Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia
Rear Tire Changer: Austin Chrismon
Hometown: China Grove, North Carolina
Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons
Hometown: Tyler, Texas
Jack Man: Sherman Timbs
Hometown: Indianola, Mississippi
Fuel Man: Dwayne Moore
Hometown: Griffin, Georgia
Road Crew Members
Front End Mechanic: Joe Zanolini
Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania
Interior Mechanic: Robert Dalby
Hometown: Anaheim, California
Tire Specialist: Matt Ridgeway
Hometown: Carrollton, Georgia
Engine Tuner: Jimmy Fife
Hometown: Orange County, California
Transporter Co-Driver: David Rodrigues
Hometown: Santa Clarita, California
Transporter Co-Driver: Charlie Schleyer
Hometown: Youngsville, Pennsylvania
