For the first time ever, the NASCAR Cup Series was able to experience a complete episode of The Ryan Preece Show because Wednesday night, during the Cookout Clash, it was exactly that.
It was also the “unedited, unfiltered”damn yeah’ version of the show as well.
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It was Lightning Preecethe 2013 Whelen Modified Tour champion and a racer who was the man to beat every time he landed on the East Coast for nearly a decade. He was the racer who was sort of a loose cannon on the mic and undeniable behind the wheel.
Preece was a familiar sight Wednesday to anyone who followed him in Tour Type Modified racing as he built his first claim to fame.
Listening to him on the radio during the race, it would be easy to think that Preece sounded like a driver who had something wrong with his race car. It would be easy to think he was crazy.
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“Man, the visibility is going to be a bitch. Just so you know. Terrible.”
“I’m pretty sure I know what’s going to happen, nothing good but we can’t see anything.”
“So whoever made the decision to race in the rain, we should probably go get their car, get the windshield.”
In fact, upon arriving at the media center, it wasn’t winning the race that the media most wanted to discuss with Preece.
“I think I know what you want to ask.”
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His scanner chatters.
“Exactly, I knew that.”
Look, when Preece feels confident and capable of winning, he historically has no filter. He’s a gunslinger on the button, and that’s a sign that things are good, not bad.
“Honestly, there’s a lot of passion behind me,” Preece said. “Everyone who works with me knows that I am extremely focused, to the point where sometimes it can seem like arrogance.”
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When he started 18th, mainly due to an unfortunate qualifying order based on his points from last year, he knew it would be a challenge to win this race. The fact that he even reached the top 10 and then the top 5 was enough to light the fire that is The Ryan Preece Show.
“That’s not what you want to be as a runner,” Preece said. “You want to talk about, ‘Man, we got the pole, won the race,’ all those things. I knew the challenge. Starting 18th, coming in 9th, having the (halftime) break, pulling back and making adjustments. I’ve got (crew chief Derrick Finley) here doing a great job. It’s starting to rain.”
Historically, this is where The Ryan Preece Show features the eponymous main character and his father, Jeff. The Preeces are race runners. Ryan can work on cars as well as drive them, and that’s what he did with his father throughout his rise, and even today.
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In this case, Preece deferred to his work father, Finley.
“For me, I don’t care what type of racing driver you are, it’s 35 degrees,” Preece said. “You don’t know where you need to be for air pressure or adjustments or all those things. When they prepare these race cars, they’re in dry conditions. You work very hard to get to that level.”
And yet, Finley had the winning approach by taking the lead on wet tires in the rain but also remaining fast on the same tires after the track dried. Preece and Finley each earned their first win together, the same way Ryan Jeff did for years in New England.
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So, doing things this way, and a grassroots short track where Preece had previously won on the NASCAR Modified Tour in 2013, meant a lot and felt both familiar and nostalgic.
“Yeah, there were a lot of emotions there,” Preece said. “Obviously I’m on the right side right now. I’m extremely happy and proud to have had this opportunity to win this trophy at a track that I won here 12 or 10 years ago, whatever. It was part of this journey, being at the Cup level.
“I’ve been doing this full time for the most part since 2019. I remember I was going to, I’m not kidding, move back to Connecticut two years ago. The stars aligned and this opportunity at RFK came up. I remember there were nights (where) I thought, ‘Is this going to come together’ or ‘Am I just going to be another story where everything falls apart at the last second?’
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“I’m grateful that this happened because I have this guy here. I have our whole group, which is special, working on this race car. I know, because when I build race cars, I do these things, it’s not easy to gain speed. You have to have passionate people behind you. That’s what we have.”
For his part, Finley intends this season to The Ryan Preece Show to present a lot of winnings. He was proud of the way their new No. 60 team came together last year and the consistency they showed, but he charged everyone to win this year.
“Being able to go to the first race of the year, to do that, even an exhibition race, it means a lot to us doesn’t it,” Preece said. “We can do it, we know what we have to do, we’re going to do it. This is how we’re going to do it. This is how we’re approaching this year. We’re going to win multiple times.”
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And although Preece is now a true Cup Series star, and certainly a Cup Series winner, this episode of The Ryan Preece Show ended like so many have over the past 15 years. It ended with Preece in Victory Lane and preparing to get in the truck for the next short track race.
Even without anticipating a win, Preece was ready to leave Winston-Salem Wednesday evening and head to New Smyrna Beach, Fla., where he will spend the next week racing a Tour Type Modified and Super Late model in the days leading up to the Daytona 500.
Here’s to partying?
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“Brother, I will celebrate in New Smyrna, Daytona,” Preece said. “I’m running, man. That’s what it’s all about. It’s going to make the driving a lot better because in seven hours, I think I’ll get home around midnight, in New Smyrna around 7 a.m.; we’ll just get ready, have a few degrees, maybe a coffee. I’ll sleep in Thursday night.”
Even as he left the track, RFK Racing Communications Director Mike Massaro was explaining to Preece all the media obligations he had on Thursday. Preece said he would do them all, but he had to leave as soon as possible to meet his schedule.
THE Ryan Preece Show is back and on its biggest and brightest stage yet.
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