Ryan Preece matched his best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series, finishing third in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Photo Credit: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)
LAS VEGAS — Ryan Preece drove all the way from the 12th starting spot to score a third-place finish in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With his third-place finish on Sunday, Preece has matched his career-best finish in the Cup Series, which he achieved during the spring Talladega race in 2019 while driving for JTG Daugherty Racing (now Hyak Motorsports). In that race, he finished behind the Hendrick teammates of Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman.
As the green flag fell for 400 miles, Preece would hover around 25th for a majority of the first stage.
Preece overtook Cole Custer for 19th place in the final laps of Stage 1, finishing in that position after passing him.
The driver of the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse brought his car down pit road during the Stage 1 caution, changing all four tires along with a splash of fuel as the newly signed RFK Racing driver restarted in 21st for the beginning of Stage 2.
Preece advanced 10 positions on the racetrack, earning himself a spot in 11th place. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson became the first driver of the 2025 Cup Series to secure multiple stage victories, achieving his second win of the year in Stage 2.
The driver of the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing overcame adversity during the course of 400 laps at Las Vegas (Photo Credit: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)
The RFK Racing pit crew performed flawlessly on pit road during the Stage 2 caution break, enabling Preece to restart in the 10th position for the final 93 laps of the race. This was Preece’s first time in the top 10 during the event.
The Berlin, Connecticut native would file inside the top 15 for the first 20 laps of the restart.
Preece nearly found himself in the five-car melee down the backstretch on Lap 195 after Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones got collected in a wreck, resulting in nearly spinning out after sliding to avoid the wreck entering Turn 3. Fortunately, Preece didn’t sustain damage in the incident.
Preece gained several positions during the caution on pit road, placing him sixth for the restart with 67 laps remaining.
As the ninth and final caution came out for Noah Gragson, who made heavy contact with the outside retaining wall in Turn 2, it changed the complexity of the race with just under 20 laps remaining.
Preece would restart in fourth with 19 laps to go and immediately drove to the outside the No. 1 Chevrolet of Ross Chastain and would fall back into the reach of William Byron, leading into a battle for fifth place.
The driver of the No. 60 passed both Byron and Chastain with 13 laps remaining, holding it down for the remainder of the event, as fellow short-track competitor and former teammate to Preece, Josh Berry cruised to the late race victory, claiming the 101st win for the Wood Brothers Racing as well as the first of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Preece cashed in his first top 5 and top 10 of the season.
“Going into the season, the motto is live by the fire, die by the fir,e and take chances, be aggressive, be on the offense, and just put us in position.” Said a very positive Preece after tying his career best finish of third on Sunday afternoon.
“Man, I’m happy for Josh. I really liked him when we were teammates, and I’m just super proud of everybody on this Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse. I’ve been told I’m mid very often by people, and I’m glad I feel like Josh (Berry) said he felt like himself again and I felt the same today.”
With the finish, Preece moves to 18th place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings heading into next weekend’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
