RYAN PREECE
COTA Advance
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Event Overview

● Event: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (Round 6 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 24
● Location: Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas
● Layout: 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course
● Laps/Miles: 68 laps/231.88 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 15 laps / Stage 2: 15 laps / Final Stage: 38 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Ryan Preece and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) are gearing up for a showdown in the Lone Star State as the NASCAR Cup Series takes on the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. It will be the first of five races on a road or street course in 2024. This season, proficiency on road courses carries heightened importance as NASCAR has integrated two road-course events into the 10-race playoff format for the first time.

● COTA marks a transition for Preece from the intense, close-quarters racing action last weekend on the high-banked, half-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway concrete oval, where he produced the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse’s best finish of the season on a day extreme tire wear throughout the field became the prominent storyline. Preece surged from his 25th starting position to ninth by the end of the opening stage, securing two bonus points. Drawing from his experience in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, where tire management is paramount, Preece prevailed again in the second stage to earn a 10th-place finish and an additional bonus point. He took the checkered flag 14th to log his first top-15 of the season and fourth in seven career Cup Series starts at Bristol.

● Preece’s most recent road-course outing resulted in an 11th-place finish last October on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval and he is poised to navigate both right and left turns again this weekend at COTA. His best road-course finish in the Cup Series was his ninth-place effort after qualifying sixth on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course in February 2021, driving for JTG Daugherty Racing.

● In six starts on road courses in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Preece has two top-fives and three top-10s. Best of those finishes is fourth, which he achieved twice in 2018, the first at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International and the second on the Charlotte Roval.

● Last June, Preece claimed a road-course victory in the ARCA Menards Series West race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. Driving the No. 9 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas, he qualified on the pole, led a race-high 55 of 64 laps, and finished 9.675 seconds ahead of runner-up Sammy Smith.

● Back with Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at COTA is HaasTooling.com, the cutting tool division of Haas Automation. HaasTooling.com allows CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Haas Automation, founded in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, rotaries and indexers, and automation solutions.

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

You’ve had your share of success on road courses in your career. How do you approach learning and improving your performance on road courses, especially considering the unique challenges that this style of track creates?

“Road courses somewhat resemble short-track racing in terms of how you approach braking, so adapting to this style of racing has come with a baseline given my background. Channeling into that and utilizing the tools at your fingertips is what you have to do to be successful. I enjoy the challenges that this style of racing presents, and I’m certainly looking forward to COTA, as it’s a track where I enjoy racing.”

Will COTA offer a glimpse into what to expect from the quality of racing at road courses this season?

“I think COTA will offer an insight into a lot of things. It’s a heavy braking track and maximizing brake performance is an area that much of the field is currently looking to improve on. With the new package, COTA could show what road courses will potentially look like this season, but at the same time, it’s a track the field doesn’t have a lot of laps at.”

The NASCAR Cup Series season features a total of five road courses on the schedule, with three occurring in the regular season and two taking place during the playoffs for the first time in series history. How would you describe the importance of your road-course race craft, and what is your outlook of continued improvement as the season progresses?

“Road-course racing is certainly becoming something that we are doing more and more in the NASCAR Cup Series, so having the ability to adapt to driving on road courses is becoming increasingly important. A lot of drivers are focused on getting seat time to help speed up the learning curve with the changes that are coming our way. I think you see a lot of younger drivers coming through the ranks who are really good at road-course racing now because they’re getting that experience a lot earlier on in their careers.”

What are a few words of motivation for your team now that the season is well underway?

“The biggest thing for our team is to continue working on the details. We have to be sure that we’re doing all the little things right in order to maximize what we’re all capable of achieving.”

No. 41 HaasTooling.com 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: Kevin Teaf

Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida

Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons

Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher

Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

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

CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS

Saturday, March 23 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, March 23 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 5 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, March 24 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (FOX)

After alternating weeks off, the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will once again join the NASCAR Cup Series circuit for a tripleheader this weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. This marks the fourth consecutive season NASCAR has traveled to COTA and will feature two races on Saturday with the Cup event scheduled for Sunday.

A NASCAR FIRST

Todd Gilliland became the first NASCAR driver to win a national series event at Circuit of the Americas when he captured the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in 2021. In a weekend that was hampered by rain, Gilliland was able to manage the mixed conditions of dry and wet pavement to win by nearly eight seconds. Gilliland, who registered his second series win that day, continues to look for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory this weekend in his third season driving for Front Row Motorsports.

FORD’S ACTIVE ROAD COURSE CUP WINNERS

There are three current drivers who have won a NASCAR Cup Series race on a road course with Ford. The most recent winner was Michael McDowell, who clinched a playoff spot last year after winning on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Ryan Blaney got his first road course win in the inaugural event on the Charlotte Roval in 2018 while Joey Logano scored his Cup victory at Watkins Glen International in 2015, which completed a weekend sweep after he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race one day earlier.

OTHER FORD ROAD COURSE WINNERS

Besides the drivers mentioned above, Ford has six other active Cup competitors who have won on a road course in either the NASCAR Xfinity or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Brad Keselowski (Watkins Glen NXS with Ford, 2013); Chris Buescher (Mid-Ohio NXS with Ford, 2014); Austin Cindric (NXS wins with Ford at Watkins Glen, 2019; Mid-Ohio, 2019; Road America, 2020, Daytona Road Course, 2020; and Indianapolis Road Course, 2021); Chase Briscoe (NXS wins with Ford at Charlotte Roval, 2018; and Indianapolis Road Course, 2020); Todd Gilliland (Circuit of the Americas NCTS with Ford, 2021) and Justin Haley (CTMP, 2018).

FORD ROAD COURSE WINS IN THE MODERN ERA (1972-Present)

Circuit of the Americas is one of eight road courses the NASCAR Cup Series has competed on in the modern era, joining Riverside International Raceway (1958-88), Watkins Glen International (1957-Present), Sonoma Raceway (1989-Present), Charlotte Motor Speedway (2018-Present), Daytona International Speedway (2020-2021), Road America (2021-2022) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2021-Present). Ford has produced a total of 19 combined wins at those facilities from 1972-Present. Mark Martin leads the way with four victories, including three straight years at Watkins Glen, while Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose and Geoffrey Bodine have two each.

MICHAEL MCDOWELL: “COTA was one of those races that we struggled at for the road courses, mostly because of a mistake I made in qualifying. I spun out in qualifying in turn 19 and flat-spotted the tires and started last. That kind of made a long day for myself getting back to the front and then when we got into the top five we got spun with like two laps to go and had come from the back to the front. I don’t think it was a racetrack that we struggled for speed, we just didn’t execute very well, so I’m looking forward to getting back there with a lot of the things that we learned throughout the season of making our road course program better. We should have a shot at winning the race and hopefully we can.”

CHASE BRISCOE: “I’m really excited to go there. I’ve probably spent 15-16 hours on the sim there over the offseason and I feel like what we have, if it’s anything like it is in the sim, then we’re gonna be really, really good. I’m hoping that will correlate. Last year, our road course stuff was not very good, so we have a lot of work to do and hopefully some of that progress that we did over the offseason will show.”

NOAH GRAGSON: “COTA is super fun. That was the best qualifying result I had last year which was 10th at COTA, so that was pretty cool getting into the second round. It’s fun. I always loved to road course race in Legends cars, K&N, Trucks, Xfinity. It’s fun. I’ve never won in a top three series on a road course, but in K&N we had a lot of success on the road courses. I wouldn’t say I’m the best at it, but I don’t think I’m the worst either. I’m just always working harder to be better. I’m getting a lot of sim time and it’s fun to mix it up, so I’m excited for COTA.”

STEWART-HAAS DUO READY FOR COTA

Cole Custer has made three series starts at Circuit of the America, qualifying in the top 10 on each occasion. He has a pair of top-10 finishes with his best run coming in 2022 when he finished third driving for Bobby Dotter. Riley Herbst had his best COTA performance one year ago when he finished 10th. Both drivers are currently in the top five of the series point standings with Custer sitting third and Herbst fourth.

FORD AND FRONT ROW GOING FOR FOUR STRAIGHT AT COTA

The Ford F-150 is undefeated on the Circuit of Americas course in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after Todd Gilliland won the inaugural event in 2021 and Zane Smith took the checkered flag in each of the last two seasons. Layne Riggs will look to make it four straight for Front Row Motorsports as he comes off his best performance of the season after posting a 10th-place finish last week at Bristol Motor Speedway. He faces a much different challenge on Saturday, however, because this will be his first series road course event in what will be his 11th career start.

FORD’S ALL-TIME CUP

ROAD COURSE WINNERS

5 – Dan Gurney

4 – Mark Martin

2 – Fireball Roberts, Marvin Panch, Parnelli Jones, Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose

1 – Chuck Stevenson, Eddie Gray, Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Davey Allison, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Rusty Wallace, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell

FORD’S COTA CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

WINNERS

2021 – Todd Gilliland

2022 – Zane Smith

2023 — Zane Smith

Martin Truex Jr.
Circuit of Americas Advance
No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing

Event Overview

● Event: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (Round 6 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 24
● Location: Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas
● Layout: 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course
● Laps/Miles: 68 laps/231.88 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 15 laps / Stage 2: 15 laps / Final Stage: 38 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Truex is coming off his first top-five finish of the season with his runner-up result last weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, where he led eight times for a total of 54 laps. On the season, Truex has two other top-10 finishes in the five points-paying races contested.

● Truex has one top-10 finish in his first three races at Circuit of Americas (COTA) – a seventh-place finish in 2022.

● Road-Course Ace: Truex has a total of four wins, 14 top-five finishes, and 18 top-10s at the three permanent road-course venues on the Cup Series schedule – COTA, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. Three of those wins came at Sonoma and the other at Watkins Glen.

● Joe Gibbs Racing Dominance at Bristol: Led by Denny Hamlin’s first win of the season, all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers had impressive outings at Bristol Sunday afternoon. In fact, JGR drivers led 383 of the 500 laps Sunday, with Hamlin pacing the field for 163 laps, Ty Gibbs leading 137 laps, Truex at the point for 54 laps, and Christopher Bell leading 29 laps. Hamlin and Truex finished first and second with the other two JGR drivers joining them in the top-10 – Gibbs ninth and Bell 10th.

● Up Front: JGR Toyota Camry XSE’s have dominated the competition in each of the last two Cup Series races with back-to-back victories. Bell won at Phoenix Raceway two weekends ago in lead-up to Hamlin’s victory Sunday at Bristol. Like Bristol, JGR drivers dominated the laps-led category at Phoenix, as well – a combined 230 of the 312 laps led. Combined with their 383 of the 500 laps led at Bristol, JGR drivers have led a whopping 613 of the 812 laps available at the last two events.

● Looking for 35: Truex’s win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon last July was his most recent Cup Series win, the 34th of his career, tying him with 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time Cup Series win list.

● Ahead at this Stage: Truex has accumulated 61 stage wins since the beginning of the stage era in 2017. He is the only driver with 10 or more stage sweeps, with his latest sweep coming at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn last August.

● With his runner-up finish at Bristol last weekend, Truex heads to COTA technically second in the driver standings with 185 points, the same point total as Kyle Larson, who occupies the top spot by virtue of his win earlier this month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE

What are your thoughts headed to Austin this weekend based on what you had there last year, and what are you expecting for the first road course race of the year?

“COTA is a place that’s pretty fun for us, but last year we got up front there and got cleaned out, so our finish didn’t really show the effort and progress we made over the course of the weekend. I was definitely worried after practice – I was not feeling too good. Your hands are so tied to these things with these short practices. I’m looking forward to the extra track time on Saturday this weekend, even though we won’t be able to work on it after practice with anything drastic. We’ve learned so much over the last couple of years about this car and what it likes and what it doesn’t, so hoping we can come with a lot more knowledge than we had this time last year and get the car where we need it to have a shot to win and run up front all day long. Our new Camry has been strong so far this year and hoping we can continue what we’ve been doing at the road courses, as well. Looking forward to this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota team.”

What type of track causes the most chaos in the Cup Series these days?

“The obvious answer to most is the superspeedways and how things happen and how it can take out a lot of cars quickly. However, road-course restarts have become the next-craziest part of what we do. Looking back at last year, we crashed on one of the restarts with guys going five- and six-wide and guys trying to make up eight to 10 spots in one corner. I think that’s the biggest change in our sport the last few years.”

How has the level of parity changed?

“I think it has changed a lot since I’ve been here. I think the last few years with the NextGen car has been the biggest change, I would say. It has constantly evolved since I came into the sport as far as trying to tighten things up, but the NextGen car just has taken it to a new level. You are talking about everybody having the same parts and pieces, that’s never been a part of this sport. That’s definitely been the game changer.”

How has your preparation changed for this race through the years?

“It used to be we were on track a lot, practicing, and trying things with our car and changing parts and pieces, and now you go out there and kind of have what you have without a lot of practice. So, you look at a lot of analytics and studies of things that have been done, and aerodynamics and video, but it’s all kind of hands-off as far as driving the car and figuring things out that way. It’s changed a lot, for sure. This weekend, we have a bit more practice to work with at COTA, so anything we can get on track to help make our car better there, or for a future race, we’ll pore through any and all data we can to help make us better.”

No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Martin Truex Jr.

Hometown: Mayetta, New Jersey

Crew Chief: James Small

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Car Chief: Chris Jones

Hometown: Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia

Race Engineer: Jaik Halpainy

Hometown: Blockville, New York

Engineer: Jeff Curtis

Hometown: Fairfax Station, Virginia

Spotter: Drew Herring

Hometown: Benson, North Carolina

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Ryan Martin

Hometown: Mechanicsburg, Virgina

Mechanic: Todd Carmichael

Hometown: Redding, California

Interior/Tire Specialist: Tommy DiBlasi

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Engine Tuner: Beau Morton

Hometown: Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Transporter Driver: Kyle Bazzell

Hometown: Fairbury, Illinois

Transporter Driver: Eddie DeGroot

Hometown: Baldwinsville, New York

Over-The-Wall Crew Members

Gas Man: Matt Tyrrell

Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Jackman: Caleb Dirks

Hometown: Riverside, California

Tire Carrier: CJ Bailey

Hometown: Outer Banks, North Carolina

Front Tire Changer: Lee Cunningham

Hometown: Leaf River, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Marquill Osborne

Hometown: Cornelius, NC

COTA Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 24
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Austin, Texas
Format: 68 Laps, 231.88 miles, Stages: 15-15-38
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 10 a.m. ET, Practice (FS2, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 11:30 a.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Circuit of the Americas (COTA) hosts the first road course race of the 2024 season this weekend as the Cup Series rolls into Austin for the fourth time.
• This weekend’s schedule features a different look in that teams will practice in two separate 20-minute practice sessions, beginning at 10 a.m. Group sessions will still be employed, except with the addition of an extra 20-minute run prior to group qualifying.
• RFK is coming off back-to-back weeks with a car in the top five as Brad Keselowski earned a P3 finish in Bristol. Chris Buescher finished seventh last weekend, securing both teams’ second-consecutive week with top-10 results.
• Buescher is coming off a 2023 season that saw him earn five top-10s in six road course events with a best result of fourth in Sonoma (ROVAL: 7th, Watkins Glen: 7th, Indianapolis: 11th, Chicago: 10th, Sonoma: 4th, COTA: 8th).
• Jack Roush has 15 wins all-time on road courses in NASCAR with five in the Cup Series, the most recent in 2014 (Carl Edwards: Sonoma).

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Castrol Edge

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal

Keselowski at COTA
Starts: 3
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —

• Keselowski makes his fourth start at COTA this weekend. His best finish at the near 3.5-mile circuit is 4th, which came two years ago after starting 26th.
• Last season Keselowski did not finish after a mechanical issue 20 minutes shy of the finish.
• In 43 NASCAR Cup Series races on road courses, Keselowski has 11 top-10s with a 16.7 average finish, and 16.5 average starting position.

Buescher at COTA
Starts: 3
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his fourth start at COTA and is coming off his best career finish there to date, a P8 result in 2023.
• Overall he’s averaged a 14th-place finish there since the Cup Series began racing in 2021.
• In 32 races on road courses, Buescher has a 13.7 average finish and 12 top-10s, and at one point last season carried a streak of eight-consecutive top-10s on road courses.
• Still, Buescher has the second-best average finish (10.1) of any driver on road courses since 2021 with 10 top-10s in that stretch and three finishes inside the top five.

RFK Historically on Road Courses
Cup Wins: 5 (Mark Martin, 1993-94-95, Watkins Glen; Mark Martin, 1997, Sonoma; Carl Edwards, 2014, Sonoma)

• RFK on the Road: As an organization, RFK has made 256 starts on road courses in the Cup Series with five wins, 90 top-10s and 41 finishes inside the top five with a 17.4 average finish.
• Martin Goes Three-Straight in N.Y.: NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin is responsible for four of Jack Roush’s road course wins all-time, including three-straight at Watkins Glen from 1993-95. Martin dominated the three years, leading a combined 183 laps, and won all three from the pole. He also won once in Sonoma, in 1997, after also starting from the point to lead 69 of the 74 laps.
• Edwards Victorious Four Times, at Four Different Road Courses: Carl Edwards also visited victory lane for Jack Roush at Sonoma, driving to the win in 2014 after starting fourth. In Xfinity action, Edwards was victorious at WGI in 2012, Road America in 2010, and Montreal in 2009. In the 2012 event in New York, current crew chief Scott Graves was atop the box for one of his two Xfinity wins all-time on road courses.
• Buescher, Graves Former Road Course Winners: In Buescher’s first full-time Xfinity season in 2014, he and Graves found victory lane at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August, which also fell on August 16. Buescher led 25 laps that day in the No. 60 entry for Roush.

RFK Road Course Wins

1993-1 Martin WGI-Cup

1994-1 Martin WGI-Cup

1995-1 Martin WGI-Cup

1997-1 Martin Son-Cup

2014-1 Edwards Son-Cup

2012-1 Edwards WGI-NXS

2010-1 Edwards RA-NXS

2009-1 Edwards Mon-NXS

2014-1 Buescher Mid-O NXS

1998-1 Ruttman WGI-Truck

2000-1 Biffle WGI-Truck

1997-1 Ruttman Top-Truck

1999-1 Bliss Top-Truck

1997-1 Ruttman Son-Truck

1999-1 Biffle Port-Truck

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Bristol: For the second-straight week, an RFK driver finished top five as Keselowski earned a P3 finish in a chaotic Bristol race. RFK were the top-finishing Ford drivers as Buescher finished seventh, the second-straight week both cars finished inside the top-10.

Points Standings (6: 13th, 17: 14th): Keselowski advanced an impressive nine spots to 13th in points, thanks in large part to the second-most stage points of any driver (16), and the most points earned by any driver in the field (50). Buescher jumped up two spots in the standings to 14th, just a point off his teammate.