After six seasons and more than 220 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ryan Preece, driving the No. 60 car for RFK Racing, finally claimed his first win on Wednesday at Bowman Gray. This milestone marked a turning point for Preece, whose career had been defined by perseverance despite never taking the checkered flag at this level before.
Preece reflected on the significance of the win, stating,
“I think most race car drivers will tell you it doesn’t matter if you’re racing in a shopping cart, in a Kroger parking lot, or at the clash or Daytona; winning matters to us.”
Victory’s Impact Beyond the Trophy
The triumph at Bowman Gray, although not awarding any Cup points, held immense value for both Preece and the RFK Racing team, who had gone without a win for over a year. Preece acknowledged the importance of finally reaching victory lane, saying,
“When I look back on my career and the things that I’ve done, I didn’t want to go back to Connecticut and think about what could have been, or, ‘man, I never won a cup race at this level,’ because I’ve won in every type of race car I’ve ever been in.”
This hard-fought achievement has injected new energy and motivation at RFK Racing. Preece added,
“I don’t know if they’ve experienced winning like this, and what I know from my own experience is when you win, it’ll create this monster in you where you want to win again. I know I had that burning desire and my team had it, but now they’re going to want it even more, and yeah, I believe in momentum and I believe our team is going to go into the Daytona 500 and we’re going to be ready.”
Challenges at Daytona and Looking Ahead
Despite his recent success, Preece’s history at Daytona has been difficult. The famed race track has not favored him, underscoring his ongoing pursuit of a Daytona victory.
“For whatever reason, Daytona doesn’t love me like I love it,”
he admitted.
At 35 years old, Preece has experienced two of the most severe crashes in recent Daytona events, yet he remains optimistic.
“So I’m a believer in the law of averages, and I’ve had such a bad record here over time,”
he shared.
“We’ve been in the right place, we just haven’t had things go our way with what they call the big one, right. So if we can continue to just keep executing pit stops, executing stages, it’ll go our way one day and we can be lifting that trophy over our head in victory lane.”
Preparations for the Upcoming Daytona Events
Looking ahead, Preece and the rest of the field of 40 cars will compete in the Pole Qualifiers on Wednesday, followed by the Duels on Thursday. The much-anticipated Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday at 2:30 p.m., where Preece hopes to build on his recent momentum and finally conquer the storied track.
