In his sixth season as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Ryan Preece is scheduled to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry will make his 200th career start in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Berlin, Connecticut, Preece made his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September 2015. By then, he had achieved the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship and had racked up 15 victories in the series. He had also made his first three career starts in the Xfinity Series over the previous two seasons. Driving the No. 98 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports, Preece started 37th and finished a season-best 32nd during his Cup debut. He would compete in the remaining four events of the 2015 season, all with the Premium organization.
In October 2018, Preece, who achieved his first two career victories in the Xfinity division while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, was announced as a full-time Cup Series competitor for the first time, where he would replace AJ Allmendinger as the driver of the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro entry for JTG-Daugherty Racing in 2019. The Connecticut native commenced his rookie Cup campaign by finishing eighth in the 61st running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. He then finished no higher than 16th over his next eight starts before he recorded a career-best third-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in April. Finishing no higher than seventh for the remaining 16 events on the regular-season schedule, Preece did not make the 2019 Cup Playoffs. After finishing no higher than 12th on the track for the remaining 10 events on the schedule, he capped off his first full-time Cup campaign in 26th place in the final standings and in the runner-up spot behind Daniel Hemric for the Rookie-of-the-Year honors.
For the 2020 Cup Series season, Preece remained at JTG-Daugherty Racing, but swapped over to the organization’s No. 37 entry as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took over the No. 47 entry. Throughout the regular-season stretch, he recorded seven top-20 results, which were not enough for him to make the Playoffs. Throughout the 10-race Playoff stretch, he finished inside the top 20 in all but two events. Mired within the results, he claimed a pair of top-10 finishes (ninth at Bristol Motor Speedway in September and 10th at Talladega in October) before he settled in 29th place in the final standings.
Remaining at JTG-Daugherty Racing for a third consecutive season in 2021, Preece commenced the season by finishing in sixth place during the 63rd running of the Daytona 500 despite getting collected in a multi-car wreck on the final lap. He then finished sixth at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course event before accumulating a single additional top-10 result throughout his next 23 starts. Despite finishing fourth during the regular-season finale at Daytona, Preece missed the Playoffs for a third consecutive season. He would proceed to finish no higher than 12th for the remaining 10 races before he claimed 27th place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
After JTG-Daugherty Racing scaled back down to a one-car operation and dissolved the No. 37 team at the conclusion of the 2021 season, Preece commenced the 2022 season without a full-time ride despite getting hired by Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) as both a reserve and similar competitor. Throughout the season, he campaigned in three Xfinity Series events and 10 Craftsman Truck Series events, the latter of which he notched a victory at Nashville Superspeedway while driving for David Gilliland Racing. He also competed in two Cup events with Rick Ware Racing, where he finished 25th at Dover Motor Speedway and 37th at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600, respectively.
In November 2022, Preece was announced to replace Cole Custer in the No. 41 Ford Mustang entry for Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2023 Cup Series season. Preece’s first campaign with SHR commenced with the Connecticut native finishing no higher than 12th during the first eight events on the schedule. Then at Martinsville Speedway in April, the Connecticut native notched his first Cup career pole. Despite leading the first 135 laps and winning the first stage period, he was penalized early for speeding on pit road and was relegated to a 15th-place result. Preece would proceed to finish in the top 20 seven times over his next nine starts before he notched a season-best fifth-place finish at Richmond Raceway in late July.
Then during the regular-season finale at Daytona, Preece, who was racing in the mid-pack region, was involved in a harrowing accident after a bump from Erik Jones resulted with Preece making contact with teammate Chase Briscoe and spinning towards the backstretch before Preece’s No. 41 Ford went airborne and tumbled multiple times in the air before coming to rest on all four wheels. Amid the wild ride, Preece exited under his own power and was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. Despite missing the 2023 Cup Playoffs, he was cleared to continue to compete, where he would achieve an eighth-place result at Talladega in October and a total of five top-15 results for the remaining 10 events on the schedule before he finished in a career-best 23rd place in the final standings. Despite achieving only two top-10 results throughout the season, Preece managed to lead a career-high 149 laps and record a career-best average-finishing result of 20.8.
Preece commenced his second Cup campaign with SHR in 2024 by finishing 23rd during the 66th running of the Daytona 500 and finishing no higher than 14th during the first seven events on the schedule before he racked up his first top-10 result of the season by finishing ninth at Martinsville. Then after finishing in the top 20 five times over his next 10 starts, he claimed a season-best fourth-place finish at Nashville in late June amid five overtime attempts. After missing the Playoffs for a fifth time, Preece would record three top-10 results over the remaining 10-scheduled events before he settled in 26th place in the final standings. Despite falling short of matching his career-best average-finishing result by one-tenth with 20.9, he accumulated a career-high five top-10 results.
After Stewart-Haas Racing ceased operations at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Preece was announced as a full-time Cup competitor for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry for the 2025 season in late November. Despite commencing this season by being involved in a rollover accident in the 67th running of the Daytona 500, the Connecticut native has notched four top-10 results and a third-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. At Talladega in April, Preece was edged by Austin Cindric by 0.022 seconds and denied a first Cup victory. Not long after, Preece was then demoted to 38th place due to his entry having three shims instead of two on the spoiler. Nonetheless, he is currently ranked in 15th place in the 2025 driver’s standings as he also bids for his first Playoff appearance.
Through 199 previous Cup starts, Preece has achieved one pole, five top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 225 laps led and an average-finishing result of 22.7 as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ victory.
Ryan Preece is scheduled to make his 100th Cup Series career start at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 25, at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
