Ryan Preece may be just below the NASCAR Cup Series Chase cutline but the perfect slate of tracks and some lessons learned could get him above it.
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. -- Ryan Preece may be just below the NASCAR Cup Series Chase cutline but the perfect slate of tracks and some lessons learned could get him above it.
With short tracks hosting four of the six races before the Chase and Preece ranking 10th for average points earned per Cup short track race this season, the driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford is in prime position to make up a 26-point deficit to the cutline.
"North Wilkesboro, Iowa, New Hampshire... those are all places I’ve had success at and I look forward to going to. I feel like attrition and taking care of your tires and the things you learn throughout the steps to get to Cup level, these are where they really come into play," Preece said. “Indianapolis, where we finished really well last year and Daytona, my favorite place that I’m gonna try to keep all four tires on the ground."
Just a few weeks ago, Preece was above the cutline. Now that he's below, he isn't too worried.
"I'm fine," he said. "For me... I look at every week as an opportunity to go out and have strong runs and ultimately you go out and get a lot of stage points and a win or top five, you’re talking about being above the cut line. It took two weeks to get plus-13 or plus-whatever, so I’m looking at it for sure."
One of the drivers he may face in his quest for making the Chase is Carson Hocevar, who has made headlines for drivers wanting his head to roll after some races.
"He needs to learn how to race. I mean, there’s one thing, I’ve raced with a lot of great race car drivers, Mike Stefanik, Ted Christopher, Reggie Ruggiero — all these guys — and if you drove like that, they kicked your ---. So it’s, no one’s teaching these kids but somebody needs to and it’s eventually going to be me," Preece told MRN Radio after a May 2022 run-in with Hocevar at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Much calmer Wednesday than back then, Preece gave his perspective on Hocevar.
“Carson hasn’t done anything wrong to me since Texas last year... so I’m not gonna come in here and slam him at all because I feel like he’s earning my respect back," Preece said. "But... when I see him do things to others, it’s harder to keep gaining that respect and to be treated like you want to be raced a certain way one day. You’ve got to earn it. As much as he’s entertaining for the fans, I would agree with Denny [Hamlin] that you’re not racing the fans, you’re racing us and we’re all very, very capable of doing some of the things that he does. I’m sure with time, maturity, age, he’ll figure it out, but how much time? That’s the question.”
Preece cut his teeth in the northeast, racing modifieds against greats of the discipline, like Ted Christopher -- and Mike Stefanik who taught him a valuable lesson.
"In 2009 at the Ice Breaker... I was running down the leaders and he was second and I didn’t want to waste time and I used him up," Preece recalled "I did the whole northeast slide job thing and after the race I looked at him like most young kids that were 18 or 17 and I looked at him and said, ‘Hey, I’m sorry, but my guys, I had to go.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Well, what about my guys?’ And, very much, that resonated with me and I thought to myself, ‘You know what, you’re right.’"
That moment stuck with Preece and changed the way he perceives his competitors.
"From that day forward, I’ve wrecked people, I’ve made mistakes but my intentions are never to do that," he said. "I think that’s the difference, where you can see and watch when people are racing a certain way and you know what their intentions are at that moment."
Now in his third full-time Cup season, drivers recognize Hocevar is learning. However, Preece has a perspective on where drivers should be at when they come to Cup.
"I’ve learned a lot along the way and I’ve made my mistakes. The difference was is it was at a weekly level, a regional level, where I feel like a lot of those things should be made," Preece said. "Once you get to a national stage in the Truck Series, the O’Reilly Series or the Cup Series, you’re expected to be a professional. You’re not really supposed to be learning [the fundamentals of racing] at that point."
On a national stage this weekend is North Wilkesboro, which will host its first Cup points race since 1996. The track hosted the NASCAR All-Star Race from 2023 to 2025, giving Preece plenty to research and learn from for this weekend.
"I think that there’s nowhere to hide at North Wilkesboro. It’s not Bristol but it’s very similar. In the pack, the front of the pack is gonna be coming. The nice part that we saw in the All-Star and in the Open is it got really wide," Preece said. "Dirty air is a thing. There’s just a lot of groove at North Wilkesboro to navigate and try and get out of somebody’s way can make speed, so with that comes the potential of guys lapping very quickly and if you’re struggling, it’s gonna be a long, long day.”
This Sunday will be much longer than the 200-lap All-Star Race. The Window World 450 is set for 450 laps with the first stage ending on lap 80, the second stage ending on lap 265 and the final stage ending with the checkered flag on lap 450.
The Window World 450 is set to go green Sunday, July 19, at 7 p.m. ET on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
