● Miami Vibes: With only three races left in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Ryan Preece and the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) are traveling to the South Florida sunshine for Sunday’s 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 400.5-mile, 267-lap event begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
● By the Numbers: Sunday’s race will be Preece’s fifth on the 1.5-mile Homestead oval, his most recent coming in 2021 when he started eighth and finished 21st for JTG-Daugherty Racing. Outside the Cup Series, Preece has four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Homestead with one top-five, two top-10s and an average finish of 15. In the 2017 Xfinity Series race, he started and finished fifth, and the following year he started 12th and finished sixth, driving both years for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his lone career Truck Series start at Homestead, Preece started on the pole and finished fourth driving for David Gilliland Racing last year. Sunday’s race will be his first at Homestead behind the wheel of NextGen car.
● About United Rentals: United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI), the largest equipment rental company in the world, is back on the No. 41 SHR Ford Mustang, serving as the primary sponsor for the remainder of the 2023 season. The partnership began with the non-points Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, Feb. 4-5 in Los Angeles. United Rentals has an integrated network of 1,449 rental locations in North America, 13 in Europe, 27 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 24,700 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The company offers approximately 4,700 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $19.3 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index®. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Additional information about United Rentals is available at UnitedRentals.com.
● Turns for Troops – Making Every Lap a Lap of Honor: Join United Rentals in supporting military veterans and families through the Turns for Troops program. United Rentals will donate $50 for each lap that one of its three sponsored drivers completes for specific races throughout the season. So far this season, Turns for Troops has raised $141,150. Preece has completed all 602 laps possible during the campaign in 2023, raising $30,100. This weekend, Preece has the opportunity to raise $13,350 if he completes every lap of the race. This weekend at Homestead, next weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Championship 4 weekend at Phoenix Raceway are all Turns for Troops events. Funds from the Turns for Troops program go to SoldierStrong or Operation Homefront. Click here to learn more.
● Last Weekend: The Cup Series competed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend for 400 miles in the desert. Preece qualified 32nd and struggled with the handling of his car throughout Sunday’s race. He was credited with a 26th-place finish.
● Where He Stands: Preece heads to Homestead 24th in the driver standings with 566 points.
Ryan Preece;
This is your first trip to Homestead since 2021. What’s on your mind as you prepare for your return to South Florida?
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to getting to Homestead. I haven’t been there in the NextGen car, yet, but I’ve had some really good runs at the track in other series, so I feel like I have a good understanding of the track. It’s a unique mile-and-a-half, so it’s hard to even compare it to the others we go to. The surface of the track is really worn, so you have to run that wall as best you can because that will be the sweet spot. The tire wear will be pretty substantial, so our team will focus on the tire strategy and taking care of our stuff. As always, we’ll want to qualify well so we can be upfront with track position just being everything.”
After Homestead, you head to Martinsville and Phoenix to close out the season. Would you consider Martinsville your best chance to make a statement after qualifying on the pole there in April?
“I think we have a chance every weekend and we have made statements throughout the entire season. Yeah, not every finish has shown that, but this team has worked really hard to get those positive finishes. It’s all coming together and that’s a product of the work we’ve done. From a track standpoint, Martinsville is one that I’ve always got my eye on. I’m a short-track guy and Martinsville earlier this season was really good for us. We won the pole and then just made a mistake on pit road. But we led a ton of laps and, if it weren’t for that mistake, I think we would have taken home that win. If we go there and do the same thing, we’ll be in victory lane and I’m super confident at that track. But, Phoenix was also good to us earlier this year, so we have a chance to end the season on a high note and we’re going to do everything we can to do that.”
As a proud United Rentals athlete, you’ve had the opportunity to make a difference with the Turns for Troops program. United Rentals donates $50 per lap completed to the program and, so far, you’ve helped raise $30,100. What does being involved in an initiative like this mean to you?
“It’s really special to be a United Rentals athlete and being part of all the things they do for military veterans and families. These races that are part of the program are even more special knowing that completing laps is also making a difference. United Rentals does a lot of work like this in the community and I’m really proud to be part of their team and have them on my No. 41 Ford Mustang. I’m looking forward to getting out there these last three races and representing them and all they do for SoldierStrong and Operation Homefront.”
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