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

Event Overview

● Event: Food City 500 (Round 5 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 17
● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
● Layout: .533-mile, concrete oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Sunday’s Food City 500 returns to the concrete of Bristol Motor Speedway and Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, is poised for a breakthrough performance on the half-mile, high-banked oval in Eastern Tennessee. Preece has competed in three different racing divisions at Bristol – the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – for a total of 17 starts and 4,877 laps, or the equivalent of 2,600 miles, roughly the same distance between Preece’s hometown of Berlin, Connecticut, and Phoenix Raceway, site of last Sunday’s Cup Series race.

● Preece endured an eventful race at Phoenix. After narrowly avoiding a multicar accident on just the seventh tour of the 312-lap race, Preece began a relentless ascent, climbing from his 27th-place starting spot to as high as second during the race’s final stage. However, with the race going green for the final 92 laps, fuel mileage became a factor. Preece was forced to make a late-race stop for fuel and fresh tires, which left him an unsatisfied 23rd.

● The Food City 500 will mark Preece’s seventh career NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol. In his six previous starts, Preece has never finished outside the top-25. In fact, he has three results of 12th or better to earn an average finish of 15.5. His best finish was a ninth-place drive in September 2020.

● Preece won at Bristol in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In his third and most recent Xfinity Series start at the track, Preece won the 2018 Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300. He led four times for 39 laps in the April event, including the final 10 circuits to take the victory over Justin Allgaier.

● Preece’s Bristol success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was preceded by his success on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. In eight starts at Bristol in the only open-wheel series sanctioned by NASCAR, Preece never finished worse than 11th. He had seven top-10 finishes with five top-fives and three podiums. Preece finished third in his Tour debut at Bristol in August 2009 and then equaled that finish in August 2022 before earning an impressive win in August 2015 when he led three times for 47 laps to take the victory over Woody Pitkat. Preece left Bristol atop the championship standings by two points over Pitkat, but eventually succumbed to Connecticut counterpart Doug Coby, who took the title by 11 points over Preece. It was one of four runner-up finishes for Preece in the Modified Tour championship. However, Preece did take the Modified Tour crown in 2013, which highlighted a four-year run where he never finished outside the top-two in points (2012-2015).

● Back with Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Bristol 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

What are your thoughts on leaving the dirt and returning to the concrete surface for the Food City 500 at Bristol?

“I’m someone who has grown up around short-track racing. Bristol is the world’s fastest half-mile, and I think moving back to the concrete is something everyone is happy about. It was a great event to do on dirt, but I think it was time to go back to the concrete and what we all love. I, for one, am someone who is certainly happy that we’re going back to the concrete, even though we ran good on the dirt, as well.”

Do you feel that Bristol is one of the best opportunities for you and the team to potentially capitalize on with a strong finishing position, based on your past success at the track?

“It’s certainly been a track that has been good to me. It’s one of the stronger racetracks that we go to, so the confidence is pretty high. We’re building toward being consistent, and hopefully we can show up and have that speed.”

Can you share a glimpse into your journey from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and how those experiences shaped who you are as a driver, and how that experience has prepared you to tackle the short tracks on the Cup Series schedule today?

“Obviously, when it comes to short-track racing, and the experience that I have in Modifieds, all the experience racing at my local tracks and on the Whelen Modified Tour, have certainly shaped who I am as a driver. I’ve won at Bristol in a Modified, and I’ve won there in an Xfinity car. I would say that the grit of having to pass cars and find a way to the front is there.”

What role does having discipline play into succeeding at Bristol? How do you balance the need for speed and aggression with patience?

“Bristol is a really fast short track, so doing the whole bump-and-run is kind of risky now, but at the same time, there are points during that race that we will need to force the issue, and just knowing how to do that correctly plays a big part.”

Take someone who doesn’t drive racecars into your perspective behind the wheel and tell us what it’s like driving at Bristol, and how it’s different from other short tracks?

“Bristol is super fast, high-banked, and not very forgiving, so it’s a track that can bite you pretty quickly. At the same time, it’s one of my favorite tracks. We can run on the top and run on the bottom, so as a driver, you’re never locked into a spot and never feel like you can’t move forward.”

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

JUSTIN HALEY | KAZ GRALA
Bristol Advance
Event Overview

● Event: Food City 500 (Round 5 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 17
● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
● Layout: .533-mile concrete oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 Ohanafy Ford Mustang Dark Horse

● Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Ohanafy Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR), will make his fourth start at Bristol Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series race. The .533-mile track set in the mountains of East Tennessee played host to the series’ only dirt race each spring for the last three years. But no more, as The Last Great Colosseum will once again host both of its races this year on its iconic, high-banked concrete surface.

● In three starts on the traditional concrete surface, Haley has a best finish of 12th earned in September 2022. The 24-year-old also owns six NASCAR Xfinity Starts at Bristol with two top-10s.

● Bristol is the site of Haley’s career-first NASCAR national series start. On Aug. 19, 2015, a 16-year-old Haley made his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start from the 21st position and took the checkered flag 14th against the likes of reigning Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, and the winningest driver in NASCAR history, Kyle Busch.

● After its first appearance two weekends ago at Las Vegas, Ohanafy – a management platform for beverage and beyond – returns to the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the first short-track race of the year.

● Ohanafy is redefining the beverage industry by harnessing the power of Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM. The mission is clear: to empower beverage producers and distributors to reclaim their time and focus on crafting exceptional beverages while streamlining production and distribution operations. Built on innovation, excellence, and quality, Ohanafy offers a robust, cloud-based solution that revolutionizes how beverage companies operate. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, it enables data-driven decision-making, leading to optimized processes, increased profitability, and reduced costs.

● Last Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway saw the debut of NASCAR’s enhaced short-track package. Despite qualifying 33rd, Haley and the No. 51 team made improvements over the race’s 312 laps and brought home a 24th-place finish, RWR’s best ever at Phoenix.

Kaz Grala, Driver of the No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse

● Sunday’s Food City 500 marks Kaz Grala’s first Cup Series short-track start and he will once again pilot the No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

● In two Xfinity Series starts at Bristol, Grala has a best finish of 10th earned last September. He’s finished no worse than 20th in eight of 13 Xfinity Series short-track starts. Grala also owns two top-five finishes in the ARCA Menards Series East at Bristol (2015 and 2016).

● In three races behind the wheel of the No. 15 RWR entry, Grala has a best finish of 14th earned Feb. 25 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and has completed 836 of 839 laps – 99.6 percent.

Rick Ware Racing Notes

● For the first time since 2021, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Series will head to Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, where RWR drivers Cody Ware and Preston Pardus are set to compete in a weekend doubleheader that will make up rounds three and four of the 2024 schedule. Wednesday will see the pair practice and qualify for the first of two 45-minute races, set for Thursday afternoon on the 3.74-mile, 17-turn road circuit. Thursday’s results will the lineup for the Friday morning’s race. Both MX-5 Cup races will be streamed live on RACER.com and IMSA.tv.

● The Progressive American Flat Track (AFT) season kicked off last week with two-time AFT Singles champion Kody Kopp taking the win in his heat race and Al Lambs’ Dallas Honda Challenge exhibition race before running away with his first victory of the seaon in the main event. Kopp, who joined the RWR lineup just a week before the start of the season, took control of the race at mid-distance and took the checkered flag by a 1.502-second margin.

● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, the LMP3 class of the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.

Justin Haley, Driver Q&A

Where does Bristol rank on your list of favorite tracks?

“Bristol is an awesome track. I actually made my first NASCAR national series start there in a truck, so it’s always been a special place for me. I’ve always run pretty strong there. I finished sixth in the spring Bristol race last year but the track had dirt on it and they took that away, so I’m not sure how I’ll fair now. But, I love Bristol and it’s obviously one of a kind. It’s a cool place to race, so I’d say it’s pretty high.”

Sunday’s race at Phoenix was very trying for the No. 51 team, but you came out with a top-25 finish. What’s your mindset now, and how do you push through to the next race after tough races like the one you had last weekend?

“I’m good. I felt like we improved a lot by the end of the race. Learned a lot and are just steadily building up our notebook. You’re going to have those days, especially with a new team, but I just can’t let that stick with me. I’m in such a relaxed environment now. There’s pressure, but I’m at it every week. We’re all growing and building together and this team is relying on me and trusting me to do my part to be successful. I appreciate everything these guys do every week to get better and I feel like they truly appreciate me. As a racecar driver, you really can’t ask for anything more meaningful than a team that will go to battle with you and win and lose with you.”

Kaz Grala, Driver Q&A

As a driver who grew up short-track racing, this must be your favorite part of the season with Bristol, Richmond (Va.) Raceway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway coming up over the next four weeks. What are you most looking forward to?

“I’m just excited to get to the short tracks, in general. I feel like that is where I can really do the most to give us a good result, but I’m also still learning the NextGen car, so we’ll definitely have to pack our patience and take what we can get. These tracks that are coming up are all so different but we’ll be able to learn something we can take to each, so hopefully we can build up some good momentum.”

What is the key to being successful at Bristol?

“Bristol is one of the coolest places we visit. If you get your car handling well, it could be a really good day and, as a driver, you really have to be able to find your rhythm and stick to it. Hopefully I can do that early on. The biggest thing everyone will face is staying out of the mess that is bound to happen at some point. Things happen quickly on a track as short and fast as Bristol, so staying focused goes a long way.”

Weekly Preview | Bristol Motor Speedway

 Race Details

Bristol Motor Speedway
Food City 500
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, March 17 at 3:30PM EDT
FOX | PRN | SiriusXM
Team Notes

• Kaulig Racing has made four NCS starts at Bristol Motor Speedway and has earned one top-10 finish.
• So far in the 2024 season, the team has earned one top 10, four top-20 finishes and has led 12 laps.

AJ ALLMENDINGER

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the Cup car at Bristol. Bristol is a racetrack we’ve had success at in 2022 so hopefully we can learn from the things we have done well. Last year we had speed in practice, but had an incident early in the race. I’m excited to see what we can make happen.” – AJ Allmendinger on Bristol Motor Speedway  

No. 16 Mtn Dew Cheetos Camaro ZL1

• AJ Allmendinger has made 23 NCS starts at the Bristol Motor Speedway and has led 54 laps, earning two top-10 finishes.
• Allmendinger earned his best finish at the track with Kaulig Racing in the 2022 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.

DANIEL HEMRIC

“I’ve always loved Bristol. The timing of the race is going to be fun seeing how the track changes and evolves from the beginning of the weekend and throughout the mid parts of the race. You go through such a big swing, so we’re going to build some versatility within our car. Hopefully we can give ourselves an opportunity to contend as the laps wind down. It’s a long event, but it’s one of the most fun ones we run.” – Daniel Hemric on Bristol Motor Speedway  

No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Hemric has made two NCS starts at Bristol Motor Speedway and has earned one top-15 finish.
• So far in the 2024 NCS season, Hemric has earned three top-20 finishes.

About Kaulig Racing

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and added a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. In 2024, the team will once again field two, full-time entries in the NCS and continue to field three, full-time NXS entries. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.