Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Racing Media Zoom Call
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is returning to one of his hometown racetracks as New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosts the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday. Preece is currently 17th in the point standings, 50 points below the cut line, with two races remaining in the regular season. He spoke about his situation as part of this week’s Ford Racing Media Zoom call.
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU ARE 50 POINTS BELOW THE CUT LINE GOING INTO THE WEEKEND. HOW DO YOU VIEW YOUR SITUATION? “I think we had a great opportunity to take a big bite of it at Richmond and sometimes things don’t go your way. At Indy and Wilkesboro, we had things go our way. Richmond, I thought we had a pretty good race car that Derrick and everybody on the pit crew executed really well. They made great adjustments, but sometimes you can’t control when cautions come out during pit cycles. I did feel like going into the short tracks and New Hampshire it kind of gives me a little bit of optimism and I’m certainly excited about coming here to my home track – New England. Every time I come back home, it feels good. It feels different. I believe we can go here and hopefully qualify well and be a contender. I felt like Richmond was a good example of we had a good car, so we’ll see if we can continue down that path and control the things that we can control and do what we can there.”
THERE HAVE BEEN SOME THINGS WRITTEN THAT SAY THESE ARE THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT RACES OF YOUR CAREER. DO YOU FEEL THAT WAY? “I mean, if you’re looking for clicks, certainly. I think for the most important races for 2026, yes. I mean, look at it. These are the final two races that can dictate whether you are in the playoffs or not. When I look at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and I look at Daytona, those are two places that I want to say I love and hopefully Daytona, for me, is gonna love me back for once. You’ve got to go. You’ve got to be 100 percent ready to execute those days. Cup races, there are so many different things that are happening during them that separate them from O’Reilly races or Truck races. Sometimes like you saw last week there were 10 pit stops. That’s 10 opportunities for something to go wrong, where if you’re racing a 30 or a 40-lap shootout race or a Whelen Modified Tour race, there’s only one pit stop. There aren’t a lot of things that are out of your control, so, for us, we need to show up having a lot of speed as well as qualifying really well – basically executing Saturday, maximize our stage points and have a great result. That’s what it’s gonna take. I did go back and look at Shane at Richmond and you know what they did? They did a Hail Mary and it worked out. It’s one of those things where sometimes the ball is in your court and it goes your way, and sometimes it doesn’t, so I’m looking forward to going to New Hampshire and do the things that we know we can do, control the things that we can control and it’s gonna be what it may. I really appreciated Brad, and I’m not trying to get long-winded here, but Brad has really been great to work with and we’re working on trying to make sure that all three RFK cars this weekend are contenders.”
YOU ARE ALSO RACING MODIFIEDS. HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE WAY THE MODIFIED GUYS RACE AND DO YOU FEEL PRESSURE ON YOURSELF TO DO A GREAT JOB IN THAT SERIES? “Modified racing, we all get labeled for having what they call the chrome horn, which is the front bumper. Through a period of time, they’ve just been labeled as really aggressive, rough racers. Don’t get me wrong, they are – not necessarily by the front bumper, but we have these nerf bars on the right side and those nerf bars can be used to move people around, so, for me, I would say that style of racing is just different. You’ve got to race people with a level of respect that hopefully you get in return. Usually, if you don’t give that in this series, racing kind of takes care of itself. It’s tough. There’s a lot of guys that are in that series that I respect, that I enjoy racing with and certainly just because I race in the Cup Series doesn’t mean that they can’t go and beat me. It’s a very, very difficult racing series, so I’m gonna do my best here and with my father and the guys that I’ve been racing with since I was 16 to try to beat them, but it certainly is probably not gonna be very easy to do that.”
CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR MODIFIED TEAM AND THOSE GUYS YOU’VE RACED WITH FOREVER? “Basically, my father and us. It used to be Preece Racing and now it’s Ryan Preece Motorsports and my father and I, that’s been our passion. We’ve raced since I was a kid and as I’ve gotten older, just kind of bought more and more equipment. It’s something that I love doing in racing with my father. It’s kind of that bonding thing. For our race team, we have a Whelen Modified Tour car and we have a Super Late Model. I don’t talk about it a lot because if I don’t have time to prepare the car or go do it, I typically don’t race it. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t want to do something and give younger kids or some people that I feel are deserving opportunities because that’s always been a pipe dream of mine to have a race team that’s traveling up in the northeast with a driver that I feel like deserves opportunities. It just hasn’t quite worked out that way, so this is an opportunity to go race with guys that have been helping me for a long time. Jay, Mike German, John the Plumber. We have nicknames for each and every one of them. Mike Herman Jr., who is the spotter for Chris Buescher, he’s spotted for me with my modifieds since I was 16 years old, so, with that, and then my father, and Mike Perry. I could drop a few names. It’s just been a group of guys and friends that we’ve been going and doing this for a quite a while.”
ANY OTHER GOOD NAMES BESIDES JOHN THE PLUMBER? “Yeah, John “The Plumber” German. There are a few. It’s all people that I’ve known forever – local, whether they live in Berlin, Connecticut or in Connecticut in general. They’re just people that enjoy racing and having some fun.”
YOU WILL LIKELY HAVE A LOT OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS AROUND THIS WEEKEND. IS THAT A DISTRACTION? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HAVING THAT KIND OF ATTENTION ON YOU? “I think I just like racing and, to me, being out there and racing and being in my home state I’d be really interested to have a conversation with the people that think those are distractions to what you’re trying to do because if you’ve ever strapped in a race car, your mind is pretty busy the entire time of trying to attack what you’re doing at that moment in time that you don’t have time to think about anything else. It’s kind of like I saw some of the things about Kyle Larson and what he was able to do on Saturday. As a racer like myself, I respect the hell out of it. That was so cool that Cliff and everybody on that team got behind it and made those plans for him because they knew what it meant for him – that if there was a possibility to go to Knoxville to do that. I would hope that if I was ever in some crazy situation where I was doing something that it would be the same way, so those aren’t distractions. Those are what we live for and as a race car driver, I live for getting behind the wheel of a race car, not sitting in a room analyzing what different people are gonna do because if you race enough, you can predict what people are gonna do before they even do it. So, I think it’s important to race more. No, I don’t think it’s a distraction.”
ARE YOU LOOKING AT THIS NOW AS YOU VERSUS SVG FOR THAT LAST SPOT? “Yeah, I would say that is the reality. Let’s be honest. You look at Penske last year too as well, they’re short track program was extremely strong, so I knew that going into Richmond that Austin was gonna be a contender, and I felt like they executed a great day and they did what they needed to do. Now for us, going into New Hampshire, I think the goal for me is to execute our day. We’re gonna need a little bit of luck on our side for him to not have quite the great day, and then that puts us heads-up going into Daytona. With the different superspeedway package, I don’t think any of us know what to expect, so I guess part of me is kind of wishing we didn’t change much because I felt like our superspeedway stuff has been strong. At the end of the day, I guess we’re all on a level playing field when we go into that one.”
DOES NEEDING TO WORRY ABOUT OUTSIDE FACTORS TO HELP YOU WEAR ON YOU? “No. The reason I say no is because if you worry about the things you can’t control, it’s gonna eat you alive. I’ve always just worried about the things I can control and make sure I do them well.”
THE BUMPERS CHANGED AT NORTH WILKESBORO, BUT WE HAVEN’T SEEN ANY MAJOR ISSUES. HOW DOES IT STAND IN YOUR MIND? “I think if you’re a driver that doesn’t drive through the front bumper it’s not really a problem. Unless you’re in the situation of a restart where somebody misses a shift, I think that’s what the intention was, was to soften that blow because some drivers were noticing on restart check-ups or what-not, they were experiencing some really big moments. So, yeah, if you’re not just a driver that’s shipping it off into the corner to harpoon somebody, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”
YOU HAVE A 50-MINUTE PRACTICE SESSION THIS WEEK. DO YOU SEE THE BENEFIT IN THE LONGER SESSION OR THE FACT YOU’RE GETTING TWO SETS OF TIRES DURING THAT SESSION? “Beggers can’t be choosers when it comes to some of these items. All of us have been saying, ‘Give us more time.’ And with more time you need sets of tires, so I’m definitely a big fan of that change, and I feel like it’s a step in the right direction, but when I go race my modified and I can go test anywhere I want with it and go try different theories, boy, there’s nothing that makes you feel alive as a guy that’s working on race cars or driving race cars and slinging springs and shocks and bars and different thought process of rear strut angles and what makes a difference versus what doesn’t and, as a race car driver and much of where racing is right now. And I feel like Brad would be a great person to ask this question to because he’s very involved when it comes to everything, but as an old-school racer that’s been making decisions based on past experiences and what I think is right, we’re just in a world of we’re constantly evolving our simulation tools and as a race car driver there’s nothing that’s gonna beat going and testing with your team, personally, and going out there and trying these different things. Not to get long-winded on there, but, for me, I’m a big fan. Thank you to NASCAR and the driver’s committee that helped make this change. I feel like it’s gonna be a positive for everybody. I’d like to see us continue to give drivers and teams the opportunities to work on their race cars because that’s ultimately what all of this sport was based on was a bunch of guys that wanted to build race cars and make them faster.”
WILL THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THE ‘DON’T HIT THE BUTTON’ T-SHIRT GET THEIR NAMES ON YOUR MODIFIED? “It actually just walked in, so, yeah. We’ve got names on there. I have sponsors on this race car, so there was a place that we had to put them, but there were a lot of shirts. There were some NASCAR people. There were some NASCAR drivers. I guess when I post that picture people can go on and look for their name as well as some of the names that are on there, but it was great support. It was a good way to kind of, I guess, laugh about a tough situation. It’s nice seeing the Don’t Hit the Button shirts because in all reality I guess that goes for all things in life.”
HOW MANY NAMES ARE ON THERE? “I don’t know. I’d have to go back and look at the excel sheet, but it was a lot. There was enough. I don’t want to give a number and be wrong about it, but I’m sure I can take a look and give you an answer at the racetrack this weekend. Thank you to Sign Pro for getting that done because I sent him an entire excel sheet with every name that made a purchase in person to online. I sent it to him on Monday and he got it done, so Sign Pro in Connecticut, we appreciate it.”
BY THE END OF THIS WEEKEND, WHAT DO YOU FEEL THE NUMBER HAS TO BE IN TERMS OF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND THE CUT LINE TO HAVE A REALISTIC CHANCE GOING INTO DAYTONA? “There are two ways to look at this right now. One is being the driver’s points and then there’s one being the owner’s points. I’ve been in the owner’s points situation before and for these team owners that’s the one that pays at the end of the year. The driver’s points is really for the drivers, so I guess on the driver’s side of things, we’re gonna have to have a massive day and Joey has shown it’s possible. Really, with the way the point system is right now, if you win and you execute a bunch of stage points and the other guy has a bad day, let’s say he finishes 35th, just do the math – you could be above the cut line. As far as the car owner’s side and what I feel like we need to do is execute a really good day to give ourselves a chance. If we’re within 10 points going into Daytona of Shane or five, I’d feel pretty comfortable about that because, for me, what do I have to lose? I’m not points racing. I’m not trying to stay above the cut line, I’m gonna go for every stage point there is. I’m gonna try to win the race. I’m gonna be aggressive. Those guys are gonna have to be on defense. They can’t afford to wreck. They can’t afford to put their car in a certain situation, so the way you have to race has changed, where I’m all about the offensive game. If we go and win and we do our jobs, then it’ll take care of a lot of things.”
GIVEN YOU’VE BEEN IN THIS SCENARIO BEFORE, HOW MUCH OF YOUR EXPERIENCE LAST YEAR HELPS HOW YOU TRY TO MAKE THE CHASE THIS YEAR? “There’s a lot of unknowns. It’s kind of like what I was talking about earlier about the package change, not having any practice, not really knowing what it’s gonna be like to drive. Even in qualifying I want to say everything is gonna be a little different, so we’re not gonna know what it’s gonna be like until we’re in that race, but as far as the closing laps if I’m in control to win, I’m sure there’s gonna be a level of communication to let me know, ‘Hey, this is what we need to do,’ so I’m probably gonna be a little more aggressive on blocks. I felt like last year I don’t like tearing up race cars and doing things that are overly aggressive to the point that it ruins your day, but I’ve also seen that it’s rewarded in this car, or what we’re doing. By no means am I going to tear up a race car, but if I have to throw a big block, I’m gonna have to throw a big block and it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE ON OVALS WITH SVG? “I don’t know if that discredits Shane, and I’m sure it doesn’t because, I’ll be honest with you, Shane runs dirt sprint cars. He’s just known for V8 Supercars racing and his incredible talent when it comes to road course racing and heel-toeing. I’m really known for short track racing and the things that I grew up doing and the grind of it all to be where I am, so I still feel like, yes, when I go to New Hampshire and the feel that I look for, that there are certain things I can do pretty well, where Shane is still trying to figure out, just like there are things that Shane does phenomenally on road courses. We all have tendencies that we’re better at than others, but going into New Hampshire, I feel like being from New England, and I want to say he’s from New Zealand, right? So going to New England it’s my people, it’s a place that I’ve been racing at since I was 16 years old and I feel like there’s a lot of things in conversations that have been had to help us be better, so that’s all we can do. We can control the things we can control and not worry about the things that we can’t and, at the end of the day, I’ve been in plenty of pressure situations my entire career and it doesn’t bother me. I’m numb to it, so I’m looking forward to being here in New England doing some racing at Thunder Road tomorrow night for the Governor’s Cup in Vermont as well as racing my modified, so I’m gonna be strapped in a race car for the next four days. It’s a good deal. It’s a good day or a good week to be Ryan Preece.”
