Ryan Preece has been a revelation during his first season at RFK Racing. He competed for the win at Talladega this past weekend, underscoring the awesome season he’s been having in the No. 60 Ford, finishing as the runner-up — or so he thought.
After celebrating one of the best runs of his career, NASCAR rained on Preece’s parade. His car was disqualified, the punishment stemmed from an unintentional adjustment during pre-race inspection to correct a spoiler angle issue, and not meeting the approved compliance method.
The range of emotions Preece experienced certainly drained him and his team’s morale, but they’re looking to bounce back this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Ahead of the race, the 34-year old spoke with FOX’s Bob Pockrass about his mindset at the moment.
“It’s not like it was a performance thing. I don’t think you’d want to add a shim to put spoiler angle in a car. It was to meet the rule that to pass tech, and in the heat of the battle, you’re just trying to get through tech. So, you know, it is what it is,” Preece stated.
“The thing that I like about our group is we’ll go out there, execute, get stage points and keep putting ourselves in positions to have great days like that. Yeah, just keep fighting.”
Alas, Preece’s attitude has certainly changed since joining RFK over the offseason, and he’ll lean on his teammates in Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski throughout the season. That’s what he’s done so far in 2025, and it’s worked wonders.
“I couldn’t be more proud of being a part of RFK and everything,” Preece added. “The knowledge and the support, and everything that we’ve had, or I’ve had — it’s been a lot of fun.
“Even going into the mindset with Chris and Brad — it was funny, at the beginning of that race, you know, Brad, by Lap 3, was potentially leading that race, coming from where he was. So it’s just — it’s neat to study, and see all the different ways about how you attack a race. Glad to be part of it.”
All told, Ryan Preece is P19 in the point standings, but he’s certainly fighting for a playoff spot at the moment. With three top tens and a top five on the season already, he’s breaking out and looking for more. Bet against the Berlin, Connecticut native at your own risk throughout the summer.
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If you scroll up-and-down Seattle Mariners related content on social media, you will undoubtedly see a bevy of different opinions on rookie third baseman Ben Williamson. Some see him as a gritty, glove-first third baseman who plays hard and does 'the little things.' Some see him as a guy with a 78 OPS+ who couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag. Others want him as a starter for life, and don't see any need to bring in Eugenio Suarez or Willi Castro at the trade deadline. Others see him as not even a major league player. The answer, of course, lies somewhere in the middle, as I discussed on the latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast: If you want to go upgrade to Geno, I would get it, and I would support it ultimately because I think it will make the offense better, and the offense might need to carry you. But this notion that Ben Williamson is no good or can't play or doesn't belong in the organization, that's not fair either. I think he absolutely provides something, and we can have a fair and balanced conversation. I can acknowledge that Ben Williamson is a good player without thinking he deserves 600 at-bats right now, and you can say he needs to improve at X, Y, or Z without saying he's not a major league player. He's been excellent defensively, he grinds out at bats. To me, he's generally a serviceable 9-hitter, I enjoy his approach to the game, I think he provides something to this team... A former second-round pick, Williamson is hitting .256 with just one home run and a .239 on-base percentage. However, he is near the top of the defensive charts at third base, and only Ke'Bryan Hayes has more defensive saved runs than he does. The Mariners will take on the Athletics on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. PT. Seattle is 57-50.
Cincinnati Bengals star defensive end Trey Hendrickson has been holding out from training camp as he seeks a new contract, and it does not sound like the two sides are all that close to a deal. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler said on "SportsCenter" Monday that there has been "some progress" in negotiations between the Bengals and Hendrickson's representatives over the past week or so. The real disagreement has to do with guaranteed money, and Cincinnati's brass is not budging. "Hendrickson wants a stronger guaranteed structure, particularly later in what should be a multiyear deal. In talking to people with the Bengals they feel like, 'Hey, we've probably relented as far as we can go.' So this is a classic stare-off right now, and it's time to buckle up," Fowler said, via Andrew Peters of Bleacher Report. Hendrickson is set to earn $16M in base salary in the final year of his contract this season. He recently said he has shown a willingness to take less than market value on a new deal, but the Bengals do not want to guarantee him money beyond the 2026 season. Based on what he has said, the 30-year-old Hendrickson is not seeking to become the highest-paid defensive player in football. In order to accomplish that, he would have to top the three-year, $123M extension T.J. Watt signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Hendrickson had 35 sacks over the past two seasons, which was the most in the NFL during that span. He had 17.5 sacks each season and finished second in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2024. The Bengals took care of one major offseason issue on Sunday when they finally signed first-round pick Shemar Stewart to a rookie deal. All it will take is one side to budge in the team's ongoing stalemate with Hendrickson, but all parties seem to be dug in as training camp rolls on.
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