● Ryan Preece comes to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series race with some wind in his sails after an 11th-place finish last Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. It was Preece’s seventh top-15 of the season and it put him just 33 points away from cracking the top-25 in the championship standings.
● The Coke Zero Sugar 400 will mark Preece’s 10th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona. His best result in nine previous races at the 2.5-mile oval is fourth, earned in the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400. A prelude to that performance came seven months earlier when he finished sixth in the Daytona 500.
● In last year’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, Preece was involved in a frightening accident which started when he was running in a line of cars along the outside wall of the backstretch and was bumped by another car, turning his racecar into his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe. Preece’s car then lifted off the ground and began flipping violently over the grassy area on the inside of the track, rolling over more than 10 times before finally coming to a rest. Despite the magnitude of the wreck, Preece climbed out of his damaged machine and walked to a waiting ambulance, which took him to nearby Halifax Health Medical Center for precautionary evaluations. After checking into the hospital late Saturday night, Preece walked out before 6 a.m. the next day and was back in his No. 41 Ford Mustang the following weekend for the NASCAR Cup Series’ next race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
● Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse is dressed for success this weekend at Daytona as it sports the colors of partner TRUEWERK. The direct-to-consumer performance workwear brand has outfitted Stewart-Haas from head to toe this season, with team members wearing the company’s high-performance gear at the track, in the gym and in the office as the official performance workwear, apparel and uniform provider for Stewart-Haas. TRUEWERK engineers the world’s highest-performance workwear and the company collaborated with Stewart-Haas to develop an all-new apparel collection, combining proven performers, such as the T1 WerkPants, redesigned classics like hoodies and polos, along with a new-to-market selection, specifically its S1 StormShell rain gear that saw action in the season-opening Daytona 500, which was postponed a day to due to rain. The company also secured naming rights for Stewart-Haas’ state-of-the-art campus training facility, known now as the TRUEWERK Performance Center.
● TRUEWERK, based in Colorado, is reimagining life and work in the trades by engineering the world’s most technically-advanced, high-performance workwear. Today’s trade professionals rely on workwear that keeps them safe, comfortable and capable of working at their best. By innovating technical fabrics that provide unmatched performance in hot weather or layer together in cold and inclement weather, TRUEWERK is proud to support the men and women across the trades who build tomorrow. TRUEWERK services customers in the U.S. and Canada on TRUEWERK.com and Amazon, and outfits businesses via its enterprise uniform program.
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 TRUEWERK Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You’ve had some good finishes at Daytona, including a pair of top-six runs in 2021 – sixth in the Daytona 500 and fourth in the Coke Zero Sugar 400. What are your expectations for your return to Daytona this weekend?
“I think to keep all four tires on the ground would be a good one, as well as just finishing. Superspeedways, from a strategy standpoint, I think you want to take advantage of the stages just to try and get those points because those are guaranteed. Everything beyond that is not guaranteed. For us, I feel like we have to be aggressive, especially trying to get into the playoffs. That’s almost a wild card, but at the very least try and have an opportunity at getting max points that can really help your season.”
Describe the intensity of racing at Daytona, especially with it being the second-to-last race of the regular season where, for many, it’s the last chance to earn a playoff berth.
“I feel like, for most of us, Daytona is one of those racetracks where everybody sees it as an opportunity to sneak their way in, or get more points than at some other tracks where you don’t feel like your speed’s top-five or top-10. It gives you an opportunity to get stage points, so the intensity is way up, especially with it being the second-to-last race to get into the playoffs, and everybody feels like they have an opportunity to win. It’s a game of chess at that point.”
What’s the patience level of drivers who are racing at Daytona in August compared to the Daytona 500 in February, when there’s still an entire season ahead?
“I approach every race like it’s pretty much the same, but I’d be lying if I said the intensity isn’t up.”
Does blocking remain the necessary evil it’s seemingly always been when it comes to superspeedway racing?
“I think it just depends on your style. I think you have to throw a block, so yeah, it’s a necessary evil. But at the same time, you better be willing to accept the fact that you could wreck yourself as well as many others. I think there’s a time and a place for it. Lap one is certainly not it, lap 20 is certainly not it – hell, not even I think for a stage. It just depends on just how big of a block it is. But if it’s the last lap coming to the line and it’s the difference between you making the playoffs or not, then yeah, it’s necessary.”
On the last lap of a race at Daytona, how smart do you need to be and how lucky do you need to be, as it seems that last 2.5 miles is the most treacherous part of the race?
“I think all of the above. Everything matters.”
● Event: Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Round 25 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 24
● Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
● Layout: 2.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 160 laps / 400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 35 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 65 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN Radio / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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