● Wonder Bread, an iconic brand made even more iconic when it was prominently featured in the 2006 sports comedy Talladega Nights, is back at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this weekend. Life will imitate art at the 2.66-mile oval when Ryan Preece drives the No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang Dark Horse in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race. Wonder Bread is already giving fans a sneak peek of the promotion with in-store displays throughout Alabama. And at select stores, most notably on Friday, Oct. 4 at the Piggly Wiggly in Lincoln, Alabama, Preece and his No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang will be onsite. The racecar will be positioned outside the store from 3-6 p.m. CDT and Preece will be available beginning at 4 p.m. CDT.
● Founded in 1921 in Indianapolis, Wonder Bread is named for the feeling that founder Elmer Cline experienced when watching a hot-air balloon race. A century later, the brand is credited with the popularization of sliced bread and remains an iconic brand at barbeques, on store shelves, at picnics and in lunchboxes across the nation. Learn more at www.WonderBread.com and see the Wonder Bread hot-air balloon in the midway at Talladega.
● The YellaWood 500 will mark Preece’s 10th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Talladega with his best result being a third-place drive in his Cup Series debut at the track on April 28, 2019. That race was just the 15th of Preece’s Cup Series career and it remains his best finish with 181 Cup Series starts now under his belt.
● Preece comes into the YellaWood 500 with top-15 finishes in his last two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega. He finished eighth in last year’s YellaWood 500 and 14th in the series’ prior visit to the track in April.
● Preece also brings some quiet momentum to Talladega with five straight results of 18th or better. He finished 12th Sept. 1 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, 18th Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, ninth Sept. 15 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, seventh Sept. 21 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, and 16th last Sunday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
● Preece has two additional starts at Talladega outside of the NASCAR Cup Series – one in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Preece’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega in April 2016 was his first start of any kind at the track and he came away with a respectable 15th-place finish driving for team owner Johnny Davis. Preece’s Craftsman Truck Series start at Talladega was more recent. He finished fourth in October 2022 for team owner David Gilliland.
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang Dark Horse
How would you assess your performances at the superspeedway races this year? It seems to have been pretty up-and-down. Most recently, you qualified well at Daytona in August but then got caught up in a wreck at an unexpected point in the race.
“For our company, when it comes to qualifying and all those things we need at the superspeedways, this is something that we all have at Stewart-Haas. So we know going into it that qualifying is probably going to be our strength. And then when we get into the races, it’s just, man, it’s so tough. You want to manage your track position, but you have to save fuel. And it’s just that the name of the game is trying to stay out of the wrecks and be there on the last lap, hopefully in the first two rows or three rows, and have an opportunity to give yourself either a solid finish or a chance at a win.”
What’s the patience level of drivers in the last superspeedway race of the year? How do you balance self-preservation with being where you need to be at the end of the race to win?
“I honestly haven’t had too much success with it this year, so I’m still trying to navigate that one. It’s really just having track position in the last stage with 15 to go because at that point, you’ve kind of solidified yourself in a good spot, and I think that’s what it takes. I think if you go in there and you’re cautious and you’re trying to be cautious, but at the same time, you’re trying to be aggressive and you’re not just picking one or the other, that’s usually, at least from my experience, when you end up in the wreck.”
Seeing that superspeedway races have become all about saving fuel for a large majority of the race before you get the green light to hit the go switch, would you consider that a product of the NextGen car?
“Yeah, it’s definitely a lot more challenging this year, or with this car, than it has been in years past because you just don’t see anyone being able to make big runs and come from the back. It’s become the way to try and gain track position.”
It’s the fourth and final superspeedway race of the year. Have you found some go-to guys in the draft who you work well with, and do you seek them out to develop your own strategy for the race?
“I prefer to stick with my Ford teammates, as well as my SHR teammates and, really, anybody that I have a good amount of respect for.”
Wonder Bread is back on your car for another year at Talladega. Is there a certain cool factor that comes with that considering the brand’s ties to Talladega Nights?
“Honestly, the part I enjoy is all the things we get to do with Wonder Bread and the excitement of the fans rallying around it. That’s really a lot of fun. For me, it’s just getting to be Ricky Bobby for a weekend which, let’s be honest, I don’t think there are very many of us who have been able to be Ricky Bobby. The hope is to be the Ricky who wins and not the Ricky who’s flipping and catching on fire.”
● Event: YellaWood 500 (Round 31 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 6
● Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 2.66-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 188 laps/500 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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