● Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is the fifth and final road-course race on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, finished 23rd in the series’ first road-course race of the year March 24 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. He then placed 18th in the series’ second road-course stop June 9 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. Next came his 34th-place result in the July 7 Grand Park 165 on the streets of downtown Chicago. And his most recent road-course outing was his best of the year, a ninth-place finish Sept. 15 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
● Sunday’s 109-lap race around the 2.28-mile, 17-turn circuit will mark Preece’s fourth NASCAR Cup Series start on the Roval. Best among his four previous starts was his most recent, an 11th-place drive from the 18th starting position in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Ford in October 2023. Preece’s first three Cup Series starts on the Roval came with JTG Daugherty Racing, which resulted in finishes of 21st, 14th and 19th in September 2019, and October 2020 and 2021, respectively.
● Preece’s first career outing on the Roval came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in September 2018. It was an impressive one as Preece started 10th and finished fourth. It remains his only Xfinity Series start on the Roval.
● Sunday’s race will mark Preece’s 23rd career NASCAR Cup Series road-course start. His ninth-place finish at the most recent road-course race at Watkins Glen matched his career-best road-course finish, first achieved in February 2021 from the sixth starting position on the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway road course behind the wheel of a JTG Daugherty Racing entry. In addition to his fourth-place finish in the September 2018 Xfinity Series finish on the Roval, Preece has three other road-course outings in the series, all at Watkins Glen with a best result of fourth from the eighth starting position in August 2018, also in a Joe Gibbs Racing entry. Preece’s best career road-course outing was a dominating one in the June 2023 ARCA Menards Series West race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, where he drove the No. 9 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to victory from the pole, leading 50 of 64 laps along the way to crossing the finish line more than 9 seconds ahead of runner-up Sammy Smith. Preece made his professional road-course debut in the July 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race on his home track, Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, where the native of Berlin, Connecticut, started seventh and finished fourth. It was his only road-course outing in 174 career starts on the Tour, where he won the 2013 championship and finished runner-up in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
● Joining Preece at the Roval is United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI), the largest equipment rental company in the world. 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.
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You had a top-10 at Watkins Glen last month and had to work pretty hard to get it. Does that give you a bit of confidence heading to the Roval?
“Definitely. I’ve said this before, road courses are something that I enjoy doing. The Roval is one that I feel like it’s not necessarily a wild card, but it’s something that’s different from what all our teams are used to just because they changed the configuration, which is something I’m excited about. I’m definitely excited about going to the Roval for our last road-course race of the season.”
The changes to the track are in the back section, and the chicane has also been tightened. How do you think those changes will affect the racing?
“For me, it’s just going to emphasize that your car needs to have really good braking capabilities because you’re going to have to be able to beat somebody into the braking zones and have a car that changes direction very quickly. That’s going to be important, and it’s just going to emphasize how much more important track position is going to be, and you’re going to have to do everything it takes to get it.”
Are there any drivers, past or present, whose ability to excel on the road courses really caught your attention?
“I think all of us have some degree of road-course ability, but somebody who sets themselves apart that you’re going to go and analyze and study how they do those things is typically a road-course driver who is really good in heavy braking zones and has the ability to outbrake somebody without driving into them or locking up the brakes. I would have to say that’s AJ Allmendinger and SVG (Shane Van Gisbergen) and Michael McDowell. Those are our three strongest road-course drivers who I see able to do those things.”
With the Roval being a cutoff race for the playoff drivers who want to move on to the Round of 8, does that have any bearing on how you approach this weekend’s race?
“I think you’ve got to be respectful, for sure, but at the same time, our team has a job to do. We have five more races and more opportunities to have respectable and great days, so obviously that’s our focus and what we want to do. Hopefully, we can have really good days the rest of the way.”
How would you describe your evolution as a road-course racer since you began driving stock cars?
“From a road-racing perspective, I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s always been something I like to do and I’ve always had kind of a knack for it when we get to these races. So when I show up to the Roval, or some of these other places like Sonoma or Watkins Glen, I feel like we have an opportunity to have a good day. I feel pretty optimistic and I think we could be really good. I didn’t run Formula 1, IndyCar or V8 Supercars, but it’s always something I’ve enjoyed because of my short-track background – heavy braking and the downshifting, all those little things you do as a racecar driver. The road-course races are ones I look forward to being aggressive and having good days.”
● Event: Bank of America Roval 400 (Round 32 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 13
● Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval
● Layout: 2.28-mile, 17-turn road course
● Laps/Miles: 109 laps/252.88 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 25 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Final Stage: 59 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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