One of the worst kept secrets in the NASCAR Cup Series garage became official on Tuesday.
For months speculation has run rampant that Berlin native and former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece would move to RFK Racing for the 2025 season.
That speculation was made official Tuesday.
RFK Racing management announced that Preece will drive a full-time third car in the team’s Cup Series stable with sponsorship from Kroger.
“I’m a racer,” Preece said. “I’m somebody that wants to win races. I want to compete for championships. My entire career has certainly been unorthodox, but I have unfinished business and I want to win really bad.”
Preece will drive the No. 60 RFK Racing entry. The car had been run part-time at the Cup Series level in 2024 with various drivers.
Preece lands in a Cup Series stable that includes team ownership partner Brad Keselowski and Chris Beuscher. Preece and Beuscher were teammates at JTG Daugherty in 2019.
“What I look for is people that have specific talent sets, whether that be their talent behind the wheel and combine that with some work ethic,” Keselowski said. “I see Ryan, I see someone who has talent. He has work ethic and probably hasn’t been in the opportunities he needs to be in to be successful, so my commitment is to taking someone like Ryan and putting him in that spot where he can win and with the right resources, with the right team around him and the right support structure and that’s what I see out of Ryan. He’s got the talent. He’s got the work ethic and that’s our commitment back to him is to put him in the right situation with the right equipment, the right people, and the right infrastructure in order to be successful and I think we can do just that.”
Preece made light of the long running rumors on a social media post released from RFK racing Tuesday:
“Shocker,” preece said. “I’m Ryan Preece, I’m driver of the No. 60 for RFK.”
The 34-year old Preece lands at RFK after two tumultuous seasons at Stewart-Haas Racing.
“Being a racing fan when I was kid, Roush was a dynasty,” Preece said. “I would say over the course of the Next Gen era seeing what they were able to do this year was really impressive. So having the opportunity to come over, be teammates with Chris again, someone who I really enjoy being around. We have a lot of great times and someone – from a teammate perspective – I can depend on, just like he can depend on me. And then obviously being able to lean on Brad, the knowledge that he has as well as what he’s been able to do as a leader for RFK is very impressive.”
Preece drove full-time in the Cup Series for JTG Daugherty Racing from 2019-2021. He spent the 2022 season as a test driver for Stewart-Haas Racing before landing in the team’s No. 41 ride for the 2023 season. On May 28 Stewart-Haas Racing announced the team would be shutting down following the 2024 season.
Preece watched from the sidelines as his three Stewart-Haas Cup Series stablemates landed new rides for 2025 following the announcement that the team would be shutting down. It was announced during the 2024 season that Chase Briscoe would go to Joe Gibbs Racing next year, Josh Berry would go to Wood Brothers Racing and Noah Gragson would go to Front Row Motorsports.
“It started with a phone call,” Preece said. “I remember I was walking into the SHR’s building and I saw Brad was calling. That ended up being a conversation where they may be an opportunity to where we’re going to be expanding to a third car. Would you like to come drive for us. Obviously I’m extremely excited about this opportunity and thankful for Brad Jack [Roush] and everybody here at RFK gave me that opportunity. There’s a lot to look forward to and a lot of hard work to accomplish the goals that we’re about to set.”
Preece has four top-five’s and 16 top-10’s and one career pole over 187 Cup Series starts since 2015. He has two wins over 62 starts in the Xfinity Series and two wins in 12 starts on the Craftsman Truck Series.
Preece was the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion. He made his first Whelen Modified Tour start in 2007 at 16 years old. He has 26 career Whelen Modified tour victories and 82 top-five finishes over 174 series starts.
Preece was also a regular competitor over the years at Stafford Speedway, Thompson Speedway and Riverhead Raceway and has made 20 starts with the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series.
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Good for you Ryan!
Must be a heck of a relief going into the holidays with a family knowing you have something in the new year! Pressure off for now, but then like you said, pressure right back on!
I was really hoping you and Rodney Childers would end up together, but no matter! Hope you get who you may want or need for crew chief!
Can’t help but feel for Ricky a little bit. Kroger been with JTG a long time, and Ricky has given them speedway wins. But I know. Business is business! Best of luck! Go get ‘em!!
While I’m certainly happy for Ryan, it feels like it’s now or never for his Cup Series career. This is his third full-time ride, and it’s with an organization that has made big strides over the last three years. RFK and Kroger were clearly willing to give Ryan a mulligan on his time at Stewart-Haas since that organization was in a downward spiral. If Ryan underwhelms in this situation, though, it’s hard to imagine him getting another good opportunity.
Really loving everyone jumping aboard the “this is your last chance Ryan” bandwagon.
I’m very happy for Ryan .. he has a great opportunity to succeed with this team… I believe he will get to Victory Lane and he can work well with his teammates on the plate tracks .. they are very talented on those.. I also think that if it doesn’t happen, he can return to mods and hold his head high because he worked his tail off and gave Cup everything he had!!
Love Preece, love he still gets to stay in the Bigs but all this happy talk more like the Groundhog Day movie isn’t it? The direct connection to Roush-Yates Engines is good. Old fart cynicism wonders is it the experience and work ethic that closed the deal for Preece or Kroger and Ryan’s charismatic ability to sell? New team, new everything, leased charter, third in the pecking order looks like another show me what you got bubble situation doesn’t it? In the interview Preece sounded like a guy making his way through a mine field so is this so different going in? Proofs in the pudding.
Hey Marshall, Stop Being A Hater. I’ve Been Watching Ryan Drive Since He Was 18 Driving “Old Blue” And Finished 2nd In The National Standings. Let’s Get Real, Stewart Haas Turned Into A Joke After Tony Washed His Hands From NASCAR And Wanted To Go Drag Racing! I Agree Though, This Is Go Time. He Still Has The Fire And Drive In Him To Prove All You Haters Wrong. I Still Believe In Him. Go “Preece Lighting”!!!
@chevelledude I have no hate in my heart. I find the “last chance, Ryan” crowd interesting. Some people are just obsessed with determining which drivers or teams “belong.” I’m sitting here like just let the guy drive. This isn’t an egregious case of a pay driver being way out of their league like Quin Houff. Why preemptively say Ryan Preece of all people has run out of chances? If Ty Dillon can rise from the ashes twice Ryan Preece certainly can.
Marshall, We Cool, I Get Your Point. I’ve Been Watching This Kid A While And Predicted Him To Get This Far. Hell!! His Grandfather Is A Legend. It’s In His Blood. “GO PREECE LIGHTING”
He is a seat filler to help get the team established and up to speed before Ford installs a driver from their development pipeline. Ford recently relaunched their factory supported driver development program, and it emphasizes driver experience outside traditional nascar and circle track racing, some of it not even in the US.
Great news for Ryan. The guy obviously has talent to be able to have landed this ride. Allot of you have been saying this is his last chance, I don’t believe that. If you look back at ’23 and ’24 SHR cars did not have the speed, or handling to win. The wins they did get were due to circumstances. The performance really dropped off when it was announced that SHR was closing. At the same time RFK picked up performance over the last 2 seasons, to be considered a threat to win races. The #60 car seemed to show performance every time they raced this season. I think Ryan’s talent and ethics were overlooked, and RFK saw a star on the rise. Now hopefully he gets not only that first win, but multiple wins, and makes it deep into the playoffs. There’s allot of talented drivers, with very few open seats in cup, for Ryan to be chosen says it all
Dr. Neville: Ford has a history of poaching prospects rather than bringing them up through their program. Logano, Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Gregson, Herbst all were Chevy/Toyota drivers who made their way to Ford after being booted or not having a Cup seat for their previous manufacturer.
Ford teams seem to have found some long awaited performance as of late, and seem to have more involvement with more teams. Penske, Front Row, RFK and even RWR all showed good speed through out the season. Even SHR showed glimpses of performance, although not the result expected of them, which probably was due to their announced shut down. As far as Ryan goes, he wasn’t poached from Chevy, his team folded and he was without a ride for a while before signing with SHR. During the hiatus he did sim work for Ford and SHR, showing his commitment to racing. As I said before, SHR lacked performance those two years compared to other Ford teams. It’s obvious that RFK saw talent and dedication from him, as there are so many talents compared to open seats. I think he’ll do well
The more you read about this deal the more it sounds like he’s bringing the sponsor, if that’s the case good for him he did what he had to to keep racing