Kevin Harvick pulls no punches on Ryan Preece, choose cone controversy

Ryan Preece missed out on the NASCAR All-Star Race due to a costly mistake in the All-Star Open. He suffered a choose cone violation while running P2, and it ruined his chance of making it to the main event over the weekend.

In response, Preece wasn’t happy. He had some fun with the situation after the race, grabbing an actual traffic cone and delivering it to the inside wall of the North Wilkesboro track. Fans cheered him on, but Kevin Harvick decided to pull no punches while speaking on the matter on the latest episode of his Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour show.

“When you look at some of the things that happened this weekend, we had a few guys that were fired up at each other. Preece was fired up after the [All-Star] Open,” Harvick stated. “He went and found a cone and set it up on the wall, for that restart box that he missed and made the two times before. The drivers and their emotion? That’s what we want to see. We want to see that emotion.

“I felt like, in the Open, Preece was going to win the race. I felt like he had the best car in the Open race. He was mad and trying to blame it on somebody else, but in the end, that’s your responsibility, to put that car where it needs to be. Knowing that, you also know that you had the best car in the race. You know that you want to be in the big show, and it’s not going to happen because of that mistake.

“Look at Brad [Keselowski] losing the lead there on the restart, that was his only chance. All these guys know you’re there to win, you’re there to be in the show. You’re there to win, and there’s a million dollars on the line. I love to see the emotion.”

While Harvick understands why Preece wanted to be in the All-Star Race so bad, he believes the No. 60 Ford wheelman is responsible for his own actions. Even though Preece claimed he couldn’t see the choose cone due to the rubber that was laid down on the track prior, the former Cup Series champion isn’t budging.

Regardless of his folly in the All-Star Open, Ryan Preece is opening up some eyes over the course of the 2025 season. He’s still searching for win No. 1, but that’ll come to the RFK Racing wheelman if he keeps racing near the front, as he’s done throughout his first season with the three-car Ford team.