Ryan Preece blazed his own trail in NASCAR, and it finally led to victory lane

Ryan Preece walked into the Daytona International Speedway media center playing Elton John's "Rocketman" as he prepared for his post-race news conference following Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400, but Frank Sinatra's "My Way" may be a more fitting tune for the RFK Racing driver. 

There aren't as many journeymen at the top level of NASCAR anymore as there once were. Today, bringing sponsorship to a team is nearly as important as a driver's racing acumen when teams choose their lineups, and while the Cup Series field is arguably as deep as its ever been from top to bottom, there's a sense of scrappiness that has been lost over the years. 

But if there were a driver in the Cup Series field that embodies the hardscrabble nature of NASCAR's olden days, it's Preece, who earned his first Cup Series win on Saturday at Daytona with a victory that not only was his first at the Cup level, but also got him into the Chase.

A native of Berlin, Conn., Preece cut his teeth racing in the Northeast. The modified ace won the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship but has had to scratch and claw for every opportunity since. 

Ryan Preece's path to victory lane was far from easy or straightforward

From Tommy Baldwin Racing, to JD Motorsports, to Premium Motorsports, to JTG-Daugherty Racing and Rick Ware Racing, Preece drove for several small-budget teams. There were opportunities to race for race-winning organizations, such as Joe Gibbs Racing and JR Motorsports, but they were few and far between even though Preece proved his worth by winning two O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races for JGR. 

His first big break in the Cup Series came in 2023, when he took over the No. 41 at Stewart-Haas Racing. But like Josh Berry and Noah Gragson, who got their shots with SHR in 2024, Preece was hung out to dry at the end of 2024 when Stewart-Haas closed up shop. 

Enter RFK Racing and driver/co-owner Brad Keselowski, who like Tony Stewart, saw enough in Preece to take a gamble on the 35-year-old. 

"Having Brad’s support, like I remember when SHR was shutting down, there was a week where he called me and said, Hey, if all these things can align, what are you doing next year?," Preece said. "It took quite a few things that almost didn’t happen. I was very nervous of being a statistic of what I’ve heard many other race car drivers were. It gets to the one-yard line and then doesn’t come true."

The only statistic that matters now for Preece is the 1 in the win column beside his number of starts: 249. It's the fourth-most starts a driver has ever had before earning their first Cup win, and the three drivers above Preece on that list — Michael Waltrip, Michael McDowell and Sterling Marlin — also got win No. 1 at Daytona.

"I’ve got four kids, and it reminds me a lot of when they do something you’re really proud of," Keselowski said. "Similar feeling. Not that Ryan is a kid. He’s definitely not a kid. There’s a feeling of pride that you helped him get there and do those things. His team there worked really hard. Ryan’s worked really hard to put himself in position to have success."

"To be able to stand here at Daytona, like, I can’t imagine what my phone, if I really look at my messages, what it’s going to say from all the racers that I’ve raced with up in the Northeast," Preece said. "One thing is for sure, racing them last week in the modifieds, I’m proud of the way I’ve gotten here because I’ve done it with respect. I’ve done it my way. Is it the typical way of what most people see of doing legend cars and super late models, ARCA, Trucks, Xfinity, and so on? No. It was open-wheel modifieds in the Northeast because that’s where I was born and raised. That’s where I could race. Proud of the path."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.