Ryan Preece drives through Turn 1 during the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo: Zach Irvine | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — For a driver who is known for a troubled past on high-speed oval-style tracks, Ryan Preece was sure to eliminate all of his critics with his performance in the Brickyard 400.
The driver out of Berlin, Connecticut, began his crown jewel weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a low note, qualifying his No. 60 Castrol Ford Mustang all the way back in the 23rd position. At a track that requires a solid starting position from the drop of the green flag, Preece had to pull off some strategy calls to move up through the field.
From the beginning of the show, Preece stalled out, running just outside the top 20. The No. 60 did not have the speed to compete with the front runners such as Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace.
The veteran RFK driver ran in the back half of the field for the first 50 laps of the race, until a bold call to stay out and take the lead at the start of Stage 2 paid off for Preece. Once the green flag waved, Preece held the lead for the opening eight laps until he came down pit road for scheduled service to his Mustang.
It was clear from that point on in the race that Preece needed clean air to have good pace in his No. 60 machine, so that is what his RFK crew set out to do. With every twist and turn in the strategy calls throughout the field, crew chief Derrick Finley made moves that gave Preece a shot at running with the front of the pack.
Ryan Preece (front) races with Ty Dillon (back) for position in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo: Justin Casterline | Getty Images)
On the restart for the final 60 laps of the event, Preece navigated his way from outside of the top 10 to running with RFK teammate Chris Buescher for the ninth position, a very solid turn in the right direction for a driver like Preece, who had not shown much success on tracks of this caliber in his storied past with the now defunct Stewart-Haas Racing.
Throughout the final stages of the Brickyard, the No. 60 machine found itself at the tail end of the top 10 for a majority of that time. With six laps remaining around the two-and-a-half mile oval circuit, a caution and eventual red flag waved for rain, pausing a dramatic ending to one of NASCAR’s largest events in the 2025 campaign.
Once NASCAR was able to dry the racing surface for the overtime restart, Preece clicked into another gear on the subsequent restarts. The veteran short track ace wheeled his way into the top five, coming across the line for a fourth place finish while Wallace secured his first win in 100 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
Preece, who is well known for getting involved in chaos at tracks such as Daytona and Talladega, flipping his racecar in dramatic fashion around two years ago, saw his first top five result since Las Vegas earlier in the spring. This result came at an opportune time to his RFK team with the playoffs approaching in four weeks.
“The Castrol Ford Mustang was pretty solid today. Just need to fight for that track position,” said Preece in his post-race interview with TNT. “When we had it (track position), we showed signs of a lot of speed. So, I feel like us, as an organization, between Chris, Brad and myself, we’re coming up to some tracks we feel really good about, and we’re going to try and win our way in (to the playoffs).”
The veteran driver was aware of the pace that his Mustang showed when he saw clean air, and the RFK organization was confident that victory lane is coming for their team very soon with tracks like Richmond and Watkins Glen coming up.
Preece will be on track next weekend at Iowa Speedway, a track that kickstarted his NASCAR Cup Series career with a clutch victory in a part-time Xfinity Series ride with Joe Gibbs Racing.
