The Stewart-Haas Racing fold is currently divided unevenly. Three drivers have already booked their tickets for the 2025 season with new NASCAR garage homes. But Ryan Preece is yet to secure his future as SHR crumbles down. He secured his first top-five in Nashville after continuously finishing outside the top-15. A chaotic end to today’s race at Pocono Raceway exacerbated his bleak situation.

In an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports at Pocono Raceway, Preece narrowed down his performance verdict. To be precise, he deflected all blame from Mother Nature’s shoulders, highlighting the ground reality of facing some rowdy drivers and a tricky track.

Ryan Preece is clear about his Pocono run

A few days ago, some people drummed up tensions about another possible rain delay at Pocono. After four consecutive weekends of inclement weather, nobody was ready to endure another drenched race. But the weather gods were kinder at the Tricky Triangle. An isolated storm cell produced some rain, but when the Great American Getaway 400 started, conditions were dry. So Ryan Preece was convinced that Mother Nature did not come in his way of a good run.

Yet wind speeds were high and fluctuated throughout the day. Some drivers felt the impact on their cars. As EssentiallySports journalist Bharat Aggarwal asked Preece if he felt the same, the No. 41 SHR driver, in his reply, denied any effect on his speed. He said, “No, no, I didn’t (feel the effects on my car). No, I don’t think the wind speed slowed us up at all.“

But other, closer-to-the-ground factors at play poured water on Ryan Preece’s ambitions. Starting 36th on the line-up grid, the SHR standout’s chances looked grim from the get-go. During the chaotic final stage, Corey LaJoie wreaked havoc—he clipped Kyle Busch‘s rear and spun him on lap 121. Then the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 went sputtering backwards, collecting several cars in the process. Preece was among the unlucky lot, along with Harrison Burton, Carson Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and others. Preece ended up finishing 30th.

On Richard Childress’ rebuke, Corey LaJoie sharply denied any wrongdoing against Busch. But he adopted a more apologetic stance toward Ryan Preece and the others. LaJoie told the press post-race, “You know, I don’t want to … I’m not the guy that wants to wreck anybody, but I think if Kyle blocks only once, then we both go around the corner and live to fight another day. But that second block that he thought he had it covered and he didn’t was what did him in and did a couple of other guys in.” 

However, Ryan Preece may not take a kinder approach to LaJoie’s slip-up. As last year on the same track, he fumed at the Spire Motorsports driver post-race.

When Preece went to LaJoie in the last race

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Having registered only 13 top-ten finishes in 170 starts, Ryan Preece’s journey has been tough. So when such a driver faces untoward wrecks in races, tempers flare up. Last year’s Pocono race amounted to such a situation. Towards the end, Corey LaJoie contacted the No. 41 and spun Preece out of contention as the race ended in a caution. Preece was left infuriated and stormed at LaJoie after the cars lined up on the pit road.

Corey LaJoie described the dramatic encounter as he narrowly escaped getting beaten up by a fuming Preece. “I see the aggression in which he gets out of his car and I’m like, ‘Oh He is not he is not wanting to talk.’ He is running at me. So as I saw him come, my visor was open. So I shut it to make sure he didn’t captain and say no poke me in the eyes… And then he reached in the car. Kind of like Boyer Newman at Charlotte a couple of years ago. And I grabbed his left hand that he put in there I kind of pinned it up against the steering wheel. And he slapped around the helmet a couple of times and then my fearless leader Ryan Sparks came and wrapped him up Bowman gray style.”

As Preece told EssentiallySports, the weather did not ruin his ambitions. So although last year’s dramatic incident blew out of proportion, Ryan Preece may not let off LaJoie easily this time either.