● Follow the Yellow Brick Road: The NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Kansas Speedway in Kansas City this weekend for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400. Race time is 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Ryan Preece and the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) return to the track with their sights set on capturing positive results in the last nine races of the 2023 season.
● Honor a Cancer Hero: This weekend, as part of the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation Honor a Cancer Hero program, Ricky Schmidt, from Bay City, Michigan, will ride with Preece on his No. 41 Ford Mustang. Ricky’s son, Josh, nominated Ricky as his cancer hero. Josh is a former SHR employee. Ricky was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last year and it has aggressively spread throughout his bones and vital organs despite multiple types of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation treatements. Josh describes his dad as courageous and says that he has kept a positive attitude throughout his fight. Ricky became a fan of racing through his son, who used to race at local short tracks in Michigan and North Carolina. Ricky helped Josh build his own fabrication business several years ago by getting him the equipment and tools, and now they watch races together as often as they can. Ricky met Preece at Josh’s fabrication business earlier this year and he immediately became a fan of his after they had a great conversation together. Preece is honored to have Ricky riding along with him at Kansas.
● By The Numbers: Sunday’s race at the 1.5-mile Kansas oval will mark Preece’s eighth career Cup Series start at the track. He has a best finish of 12th after starting 28th in the October 2019 race with JTG-Daugherty Racing. In this year’s first Kansas event in May, Preece and the No. 41 team had a tough weekend, qualifying 28th and finishing 27th. Preece has two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Kansas (2016 and 2018) and one in the NASCAR Truck Series, when he started seventh and finished third in September 2022.
● Get To Know United Rentals: This weekend United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI), the largest equipment rental company in the world, returns to the No. 41 Ford Mustang serving as the primary sponsor. 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 complete for specific races throughout the season. Funds from the Turns for Troops program go to SoldierStrong or Operation Homefront. Click here to learn more.
● Last Weekend: Preece returned to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for last Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500. The weekend didn’t go according to plan, however, he qualified 34th and finished 28th after he and the team struggled to achieve a balanced racecar throughout the 500-mile race.
● Where He Stands: Preece heads to Kansas 26th in the driver standings with 438 points.
Ryan Preece;
The Cup Series is returning to Kansas Speedway this weekend for the second time this season. The first race at the track didn’t go as the team hoped. What are your expectations this weekend?
“Our team has been working hard on finding the right balance at these tracks. We’re going to really emphasize qualifying and getting a good starting position. It’s all about track position, it’s the biggest things at these tracks. We’ve seen it all season long, right? If you have the track position, it could be a good day, so that’s what we need to do. If we can get a good starting position and execute on the track, I think we can put ourselves in a good spot when the green flag waves.”
What do you see as the biggest challenge at Kansas Speedway?
“Typically, Kansas is a track where you fight being loose and each corner can be so different. It’s going to be important to find a good balance between being too loose and too free. We’ve fought that battle before and me and my crew chief, Chad Johnston, know what to expect. We’ve been working really hard every week to put focus into certain things that we can control. And like I said, track position, it’s going to be the biggest thing.”
It’s been a very chaotic and busy few weeks for you and your team. What is your mindset like right now?
“It’s no different than it always has been. That never changes for me. My mindset is getting out there every weekend and executing to win races. That’s why we’re all here, right? To win. To show that we belong in this series. I’ve fought way too hard to be here for that not to be the goal and I know that everyone on my team feels the same way. I’m thankful to be here and be racing, but I know what we’re capable of. We have been focused on consistency throughout the entire season, too. That doesn’t stop now just because we aren’t fighting for a championship. We’re fighting for wins every weekend and I believe if we keep growing as a team – which we have done so much this season – we’re going to get those top-10 and top-five results, and then the wins will come.”
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