● Viva Las Vegas: The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Sin City this weekend for the South Point 400 on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval. Sunday’s 267-lap race will be at 2:30 p.m. ET with live coverage by NBC, PRN and SiriusX NASCAR Radio. Ryan Preece will pilot the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) for the second time this season at the Nevada desert track. Preece and the No. 41 team have been making positive strides over the last few weeks, looking to close out the season with solid results. In the last four races, Preece has three top-12 finishes and hopes to keep that momentum going this weekend.
● By The Numbers: Preece will make his eighth career Las Vegas start this weekend. His first was in 2019 for JTG-Daugherty Racing. In March 2021, Preece tallied his best Las Vegas finish of 15th. In his last visit in March, Preece started 31st and finished 23rd in his outing there with SHR and his first in a Ford Mustang.
● About HaasTooling.com: Back on the No. 41 Ford Mustang this weekend is HaasTooling.com, the cutting tool division of Haas Automation led by SHR co-owner Gene Haas. HaasTooling.com was launched as a way for 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. HaasTooling.com products became available nationally in July 2020. 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.
● HaasTooling.com Winner’s Circle: The focal point of the No. 41 Ford Mustang’s red, white and black paint scheme this weekend is the HaasTooling.com Winner’s Circle logo. The online tooling division of the U.S. machine tool builder Haas Automation, Inc. introduced the Haas Tooling Winner’s Circle this year, a membership program that offers customers free next-day delivery, discounted pricing on all products, and a lower threshold for free shipping. HaasTooling.com already offers industry-leading pricing and fast delivery on an expansive selection of cutting tools, toolholders, and workholding products. Now, Haas Tooling Winner’s Circle members will get the added benefits of free shipping on all orders over $49, free next-day delivery anywhere in the contiguous United States (on most orders), and 5% off every tooling purchase. For even greater savings, the 5% discount may be combined with other promotions, and a single membership may be used by an entire company.
● Last Weekend: The Cup Series competed close to home last weekend, taking on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval on Sunday. Preece and the No. 41 team qualified 18th Saturday afternoon. In Sunday’s race, Preece’s Ford Mustang lacked forward drive and grip to start out but, with the team’s adjustments and focus on pit strategy, Preece was able to race into the top-10 during the final stage of the race. He took home an 11th-place finish.
● Where He Stands: Preece heads to the Las Vegas 24th in the driver standings with 555 points.
Ryan Preece;
Whenever you’ve been asked about the goal for the remainder of the season, you’ve said it’s all about consistency. You’ve had three top-12 finishes in the last four races. Do you feel like that consistency is showing?
“I do, for sure. This team has what it takes to run up front and have top-10, top-five finishes every week. From the beginning of the season, we have worked so hard on being a team that is consistent the entire weekend. It all counts, not just the laps during the race. It’s showing and we are proving that we can be up there and in the mix. I’m proud of these guys and I’m excited to see what this team can do as we end the season and prepare for next year, too.”
You’re heading back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second time this season. Can you take anything from this year’s first race there and implement it this weekend?
“Yeah, I mean, I think our mile-and-a-half program has gotten better and better as a whole at SHR and I know it has for us on the 41 team. Las Vegas has always been a place that I’ve typically liked and looked forward to going to. In March, it was my first time there in the NextGen car but I was able to learn a lot and take in a lot from that race. Speed hasn’t been an issue for us this season. The speed is there, so we’ve just got to keep bringing fast racecars, executing in qualifying and performing on Sundays. We were really decent at Texas a few weeks ago, and having two solid finishes in the last two weeks is exactly what our team needed. I know we can keep that going this weekend at Las Vegas.”
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