Ryan Preece NASCAR Cup Series Preview Nashville Superpeedway

(Press release from Stewart-Haas Racing)

●  Event: Ally 400 (Round 19 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 30

●  Location:  Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway

●  Layout:  1.333-mile, concrete oval

●  Laps/Miles:  300 laps/399.9 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stages 1: 90 laps / Stage 2: 95 laps / Final Stage: 115 laps

●  TV/Radio:  NBC / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

●  Ryan Preece and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse team are on the road to Music City for Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. This weekend’s race marks the NASCAR Cup Series’ fourth trip to the 1.333-mile oval and Preece’s third. In his previous two Cup Series starts at Nashville, he has a best finish of 16th, coming last year for Stewart-Haas Racing.

●  Preece enters Nashville on the heels of an 11th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. He started the race 31st, gaining 20 spots on the way to the checkered flag. Preece sat 28th when the race was red-flagged due to rain on lap 219, but quickly climbed inside the top-15 when the race resumed with the field on wet-weather tires. Preece narrowly avoided two multi-car accidents on laps 266 and 294 to earn his second-highest finish of the year. He finished ninth April 7 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

●  In two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series outings at Nashville, Preece was victorious in both. His first win came in June 2021 for David Gilliland Racing, marking his first career Truck Series start. He qualified sixth and finished solidly inside the top-10 during the first and second stages. In the final stage, Preece raced his way to the lead for good with seven laps remaining to join Mike Skinner, Kasey Kahne, Robert Pressley and Ryan Newman as the only drivers to win in their Truck Series debuts. He scored his second win at Nashville in June 2022, when he started from the pole, finished second in Stage 1 and first in Stage 2, and took the checkered flag having led a race-high 74 of 150 laps.

●  In the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Nashville, Preece has one start, which occurred in June 2022 with B.J. McLeod Motorsports. He qualified 27th but worked his way into the top-10 during the race, finishing ninth in the second stage. Preece finished the race sixth to earn his second top-10 in his third and final Xfinity Series start of 2022.

●  Joining Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Nashville is HaasTooling.com, the cutting tool division of Haas Automation. HaasTooling.com allows CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Haas Automation, founded in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, rotaries and indexers, and automation solutions.

What Ryan Is Saying:

You have two wins in the Truck Series at Nashville. Does that build any confidence heading into this weekend’s Cup Series race?

“Trucks are much different from the NextGen racecar that we’re racing on Sundays. I think those runs in the Truck Series certainly help with confidence, where I feel good about going to Nashville. It’s still the same racetrack, nonetheless, even though there are a lot of differences between the two series. I enjoy racing there, and I feel like it’s a place I’m good at.”

Nashville is a 1.333-mile, concrete oval, making it a unique racetrack on the schedule. What’s it like racing there?

“Nashville races a lot like a short track, but it’s an intermediate. It’s definitely unique with it being concrete, as well, so depending on the tire we have this weekend, we could see tire wear and strategy come into play on Sunday.”

Temperatures will be high this weekend. How will that affect your racecar in the race?

“With the temperatures being higher, it’s a lot on the drivers inside the racecar. I think being hydrated is a big component to succeeding, but at the same time, it affects the racetrack with how hot and slick it can get. We’ll just have to do our best to, hopefully, have a fast racecar and stay hydrated.”

What do you need to be able to have a strong run on Sunday?

“I think it just comes down to having the right balance, and that’s something we’ve been working on the last few races. I was happy with our speed at New Hampshire. We just struggled to find the sweet spot and the grip we needed before the rain kind of hit reset for everyone in the field. If we can find the right balance and have the maneuverability we need, and bring the same speed we had in New Hampshire, we’ll be just fine.”

Do you feel the result in New Hampshire sets the tone to build momentum?

“We certainly needed a good run. I think we should’ve finished higher in that one, so we’re going to be pushing hard to build on that and hopefully get some more top-15s and top-10s in the races coming up.”