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Preece began racing in 2007 and became 32nd in the championship in the Northeastern Midget Association with the Bertrand team. A year later he finished on the podium for the first time in his career with a third place[3] finish at Monadnock in his only Northeastern Midget race that year.
Preece competed in and won the championship in the SK Modified Series in 2011 at Stafford Motor Speedway, while his future wife Heather was the series' Rookie of the Year.[4]
Whelen Modified Tour
Preece's Modified Tour car in 2015
That same year, he got his first career victory in the Whelen Modified Tour after dominating the Made In America Whelen 300 at Martinsville. In 2009 and 2012, he was runner-up in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, but he became champion in 2013 with four wins in fourteen races driving for Flamingo Motorsports, owned by Eric Sanderson. In 2014, he returned to the team and won the last two races of the year, coming home in second place in the final standings. In 2015, he drove for TS Haulers Racing, owned by Ed Partridge.[5]
On November 24, 2016, it was announced that Preece would remain at JD Motorsports for another full season in 2017. However, on December 8, 2016, it was announced that Preece and JD Motorsports had parted ways, letting Preece explore other opportunities. The primary reason why Preece left JD is that he wanted to be in a team to win races and expected to be back in the Whelen Modified Tour in 2017.[6] He rejoined Partridge's team in the Modified Tour.[7]
On August 8, 2015, Preece announced he would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut for TBR at Loudon.[8] Preece joined JD Motorsports full-time in 2016, driving the No. 01 Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series.[9] The primary sponsor was Flex Seal. Preece has several decent runs for the mid-pack organization in 2016, just missing the first ever Xfinity playoffs.
2017–2018: Joe Gibbs Racing
In July 2017, he returned to the Xfinity Series, racing at Loudon in the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing with sponsorship from Mohawk Northeast and Mizzy Construction, finishing a career-best second behind teammate Kyle Busch.[10][11] The opportunity originally came after Kevin Manion contacted Preece about openings at JGR after the retirement of Carl Edwards.[12]
At Iowa, Preece returned to the No. 20 with Mohawk and Falmouth Construction sponsoring. Preece won the pole and held off teammate Kyle Benjamin on a late restart to win his first career Xfinity race.[13]
After his Iowa win, JGR announced that Preece would also drive for the team at Kentucky Speedway in September (a standalone Xfinity race), and later Homestead (where Cup drivers, regardless of experience, are prohibited from participating).[14] Preece, with the American Red Cross on the No. 20 car, finished 4th at Kentucky.
Preece moved to Gibbs’ No. 18 Safelite Toyota at Homestead. Preece was involved in a controversy, as championship contender Elliott Sadler placed the blame on Preece for blocking him on the final restart of the season. Preece still managed a top 5 finish.
On November 15, 2017, it was announced that Preece would run another partial schedule with JGR in 2018, running at least ten races in the No. 18 car, sharing it with JGR Cup drivers Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Daniel Suárez, JGR development driver Kyle Benjamin, and Australian James Davison. While he is listed for ten races, more races are possible.[15] Sponsorship of Preece's races in the No. 18 would come primarily from Rheem. A few of the races were instead supported by Ruud and its affiliate businesses.
Preece began his season with a 9th-place finish at California, his first time finishing outside the top 5 at Gibbs. He got back in the top 5 a week later at Texas.
Preece became eligible for the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash after his good run at Texas. The next week at Bristol, Preece won the race and the bonus, taking home the $100,000. It was Preece's second career Xfinity Series win.
Preece did not run any of the other Dash 4 Cash races. He returned to the No. 18 car at Daytona.
2019: JR Motorsports
Preece in the No. 8 for JR Motorsports in 2019 at Pocono
For 2019, Preece joined JR Motorsports to drive their No. 8 part-time. He competed in four events, all finishing in the top ten with a highest of fourth at Pocono.[16]
Cup Series
2015: Premium Motorsports
Preece drove the No. 98 Chevy out of the TBR shop in partnership with Premium Motorsports. After starting 37th, he finished 32nd in the Sylvania 300. Preece returned to the Cup Series for the final four races of the season with Premium. TBR did not assist his races at Martinsville, Texas, and Phoenix, though they returned to help field the No. 98 at Homestead out of their shop.[17]
On August 16, 2019, Preece confirmed that he would remain with the team for the 2020 season.[20] However, he moved to JTG's No. 37 car as new teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took over the No. 47.[21] For the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway, Preece started on the pole via field inversion, unofficially marking his first career pole at the Cup level; he had finished 20th in the previous race, and a field inversion placed him in first.[22] Despite running with the leaders for much of the Toyota 500's early stages, he finished last after his engine failed on lap 69.[23] Preece was involved in a violent crash on a restart at Kansas Speedway in July 2020. On a restart down the backstretch, Christopher Bell came up in front of Ryan Newman sending Bell into the outside wall. Bell came back across traffic where Newman tagged Preece and Preece hit the inside wall head on and nearly sent Preece on his side. Fortunately, Preece walked out unscathed.[24] It was Preece's fourth straight DNF, but broke a string of last-place finishes. Preece scored a total of 8 DNF's during the season, and finished out the year 29th in points.[25]
Preece returned to the No. 37 in 2021, but the car did not have a charter that would have guaranteed it a spot in every race and only carried enough sponsorship for 24 of 36 races.[26] The performance and funding of the team suffered. The No. 37 would be shut down after 2021, leaving Preece without a ride.
2022: Part-time driver
On January 6, 2022, Stewart–Haas Racing hired Preece as a reserve driver, as the backup driver for all related[check spelling] teams and simulator driver for SHR. Preece will also race two Cup races for Rick Ware Racing at Dover and Charlotte, three Xfinity races for B. J. McLeod Motorsports at Richmond, Charlotte, and Nashville, and seven Truck races for David Gilliland Racing.[27] Preece started 13th in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing car for his Cup Series start in the 2022 DuraMAX Drydene 400 at Dover and finished 25th. Preece would run all three races during the Coke 600 weekend. He finished 11th in the Truck Series event after being involved in an accident with Carson Hocevar. On June 24, 2022, Preece would win his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole at Nashville Superspeedway. He would go onto lead 74 of the 150 laps, winning Stage 2 and his second career Truck Series race. He would also race in the Xfinity Series event the following day.
On November 16, 2022, Stewart–Haas Racing announced that Preece would replace Cole Custer in the No. 41 for the 2023 season while Custer would return to the 00 Xfinity Series entry. In December, Chad Johnston returned to SHR to replace Mike Shiplett as crew chief of the No. 41, after Shiplett moved to Richard Childress Racing.[28]
Preece started the 2023 season with a 36th place DNF at the 2023 Daytona 500. He scored his first career pole at Martinsville. He struggled throughout the regular season, scoring only one top-five finish at Richmond.
On August 26, at the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400, Preece was running toward the tail of the lead pack in the closing stages of the race. On lap 157, while racing down the backstretch, he was pushed from the rear by Erik Jones. The contact sent Preece down the track, where he collided with teammate Chase Briscoe, and spun onto the apron. As the car slid, aerodynamic forces lifted the car off of the ground and rolled it onto its roof. The car planted upside-down in the grass before violently barrel-rolling roughly ten times before finally coming to a rest on its wheels. After a few moments, Preece exited the car under his own power, and was put on a stretcher, and taken to a nearby hospital for further evaluation. During his time in the hospital, he tweeted that he would be coming back to race again and expressed disappointment that his race ended in the fashion it did. He was discharged the next morning and would be in the next race at Darlington.[29] Preece would come into the next race at Darlington revealing in his interviews that he had two black eyes and both of his eyes were bloodshot from the wreck.[30] The car was taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development center to be studied.[31] Safety concerns emerged as film of the crash showed that the roof hatch, designed to allow the driver to escape from the car through a method other than via the driver's side window, was detached from the car early in the crash, exposing the cockpit during the remainder of the crash.[32] Given his points situation entering the race, the crash eliminated Preece's chances of contending in the NASCAR playoffs.
Preece started the 2024 season with a 23rd place finish at the 2024 Daytona 500. Following the Atlanta race, the No. 41 was hit with an L1 penalty and docked 35 owner and driver points after pre-race inspection revealed unapproved roof rails.[33]
On May 28, 2024, Stewart–Haas Racing announced it would shut down its NASCAR operations at the end of the season.[34]
2025: RFK Racing
On November 19, 2024, RFK Racing announced that Preece would drive the No. 60 car full-time in 2025.[35]
Preece married his longtime girlfriend, Heather DesRochers, in 2017.[4] Together, Ryan and Heather have one child together, named Rebecca Marie. She was born on August 7, 2023. [40] DesRochers is also a racing driver and was a participant in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity combine in 2009[41] and 2010,[42] attempting to become one of the drivers selected to be in the D4D program, although she was not selected either year. The two met at Stafford Motor Speedway in 2009 and competed against each other in the SK Modified Series in 2011, where Preece won the championship and DesRochers was the Rookie of the Year.[4]
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)
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