Preece Posts Seventh Place Finish in Chicago and Advances to In-Season Challenge Quarterfinals

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Chicago Street Race
Sunday, July 6, 2025

Ford Unofficial Finishing Results:

7th – Ryan Preece
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Ryan Blaney
14th – Zane Smith
18th – Chris Buescher
21st – Josh Bilicki
26th – Cody Ware
27th – Austin Cindric
30th – Noah Gragson
33rd – Cole Custer
34th – Josh Berry
37th – Brad Keselowski
38th – Todd Gilliland

RYAN PREECE, No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse –”We had a really, really good car. We took stage points there and it was really, really tough to pass, even tires held on really well. Ultimately, a really good car. I’m excited for Sonoma. I’m excited for road racing. If there wasn’t such a jumble up sometimes with how you have to play for points or stages, I feel like we had a really good car. I’m proud of Derrike. Thanks to BuildSubmarines.com, Kroger, Mohawk Northeast and all the partners that are involved with RFK. Like I say every week, I’m happy to be a part of it.” YOU ADVANCED IN THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE AS WELL. HOW DOES THAT FEEL BEING CLOSER TO A MILLION DOLLARS? “I felt like if we could have gotten through the first round, these next two rounds are really good for us. Our road course program is pretty strong and we keep making it better, so going into Sonoma, I think we’re up against Tyler Reddick, so he’s really good at road courses as well, but I like being the underdog.” HOW DID YOU LIKE THESE THREE YEARS RACING IN CHICAGO? “I enjoy the street course. You’ve got to be super disciplined with no mistakes because if you make a mistake, you hit the wall. It’s great. I’m happy there was no weather to jumble it up there at the end and we’ll move on to Sonoma.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – A GOOD REBOUND FROM THE FLAT TIRE AND A STAGE WIN AS WELL. HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE YOUR DAY? “I thought overall it was a pretty decent day. It was nice to win that stage. I knew we were gonna lose track position, but we were fine. We made up really good ground on the restart in the third stage and then I hit the inside wall in 11 and popped the right-front tire. We had to work our way back from there, but, overall, it was a decent recovery.”

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Vermeer Midwest Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU ADVANCED IN THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE, HOW DOES IT FEEL? “Yeah, I hate we had to knock another Ford out, but it’s super cool to advance. I know going up against Chris the odds were stacked against me with how good he is on road courses. I did everything I could to not advance today. We had a really good car to start and then I got blind behind the 12 and then nicked the wall and got a pretty good amount of damage that put me back there in the hornet’s nest. I just kept getting hit and it was chaos, but, fortunately, I was able to escape some of that chaos and get aggressive towards the end and get a top 15 and some stage points and advance in the bracket, so I’m very happy about this.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kroger/Blue Buffalo Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I didn’t see it until the last second. I slowed down and I actually felt I was gonna get stopped and then I just kind of got ran over from behind. It’s just a narrow street course and sometimes there’s nowhere to go.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Without seeing a replay, I feel like the 43 just kind of overcooked the corner and got us there. It’s just disappointing. We were having a really solid day and made our way forward. We were running well, so we’ll just keep on going trying to get better and go on to Sonoma.”

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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