● The Bass Pro Shops Night Race Saturday at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway brings Ryan Preece back to the high-banked, half-mile concrete oval where he has a solid resume across multiple racing disciplines, highlighted by NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories. The driver of the No. 41 Old Armor Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing will make his eighth career NASCAR Cup Series start Saturday night and his 19th overall. Best among his previous seven Cup Series starts was a ninth-place finish in September 2020. It was one of four career top-15s for Preece at the East Tennessee short track where he has an average Cup Series finish of 15.3. Preece finished 14th in his prior visit to Bristol last March.
● Preece’s Xfinity Series win at Bristol came in April 2018 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his third and most recent Xfinity Series start at Bristol, Preece qualified seventh and led four times for 39 laps, including the final 10 on his way to the victory over Justin Allgaier. In his first two Xfinity Series starts at Bristol, Preece finished 19th and 15th in the 2016 spring and fall races, respectively, driving for owner Johnny Davis.
● In his eight Whelen Modified Tour starts at Bristol – the only open-wheel series sanctioned by NASCAR – Preece never finished worse than 11th. His victory came in the August 2015 race in his third Tour start at the track. He qualified second and led 47 of 103 laps on his way to victory over polesitter Woody Pitkat. Preece scored three Bristol podiums, five top-fives and seven top-10s in his eight Tour starts. His Tour debut there in August 2009 resulted in a third-place finish, a result he equaled in his very next visit in August 2022.
● Old Armor Beer Company adorns Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse this weekend at Bristol. Old Armor is owned and operated by combat veterans who served overseas protecting America. Co-founded by Kyle Lingafelt, an active duty U.S. Marine from 2008 to 2018, and Stefan Perrine, a U.S. Army Paratrooper from 2010 to 2015, Old Armor’s mission is twofold – to provide great craft beer while giving back to the community. Old Armor has 12 of its unique brews dedicated to supporting charitable foundations, specifically those assisting veterans and first responders. From its taproom in downtown Kannapolis, North Carolina, located less than 15 minutes from Stewart-Haas Racing’s headquarters, customers can also give back via Old Armor’s “Pay It Forward Board” where anyone 21 years or older can buy a beer for a veteran or first responder. This small act of kindness covers a service member’s or first responders’ ice-cold pint of freedom before they even step inside, embracing Old Armor’s motto of leading from the front. We recommend Old Armor’s Stewart-Haas Summer Ale, which debuted this year.
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 Old Armor Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You’re heading back to Bristol after having endured a challenging race there in the spring with regard to tire wear. Will the lessons learned that weekend help you and the team deal more effectively with the tire wear anticipated once again this weekend?
“Now that we all know and have an understanding of how the cars and the tires behaved there in the spring, I think we’ve all made adjustments and made it that much better. I feel pretty good about everybody going back after having made those adjustments and being better this time around. Obviously, we left there the last time with some work to do – the tire wear was excessive, but at the same time we maximized our day. If we didn’t have a tire come apart at the end of the race, we could’ve finished top-10, so that is encouraging.”
What makes Bristol unique among the short tracks you’ve raced on, and would you say the success you’ve had there gives you and the team added confidence heading into the weekend?
“Bristol is super fast, high-banked, and not very forgiving, so it’s a track that can bite you pretty quickly. At the same time, it’s one of my favorite tracks. We can run on the top and run on the bottom, so as a driver, you’re never locked into a spot and never feel like you can’t move forward. It’s certainly been a track that has been good to me. It’s one of the stronger racetracks that we go to, so the confidence is pretty high. We’re looking to build some consistency and string together some really good finishes over these final races of the season, so hopefully we’ll return with the speed we’ll need to make that happen this weekend.”
Racing for 500 laps at Bristol is described as a constant balance of risk versus reward. Being a track where things can happen seemingly in an instant, but also knowing you have only small windows of opportunity to make things happen when you need to, how do you navigate those 500 laps?
“Bristol is a really fast short track, so doing the whole bump-and-run is kind of risky now, but at the same time, there are points during that race that we will need to force the issue, and just knowing how to do that correctly plays a big part.”
What aspects of your vast experience racing on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour have helped the most when it comes to the way you approach short tracks in a Cup Series car?
“Obviously, when it comes to short-track racing, and the experience that I have in Modifieds, all the experience racing at my local tracks and on the Whelen Modified Tour, have certainly shaped who I am as a driver. I’ve won at Bristol in a Modified, and I’ve won there in an Xfinity car. I would say that the grit of having to pass cars and find a way to the front is there. It’s just a matter of going out and executing over the course of 500 laps on Saturday night.”
● Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 21
● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
● Layout: .533-mile, concrete oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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