“I hesitate to say I’m surprised.” Brad Keselowski’s words for the latest addition to RFK Racing make perfect sense. Before the 2025 season started, Ryan Preece was the afterthought of Stewart-Haas Racing’s legacy. After Tony Stewart’s team shut down in May 2024, concerns were highest for the other drivers like Chase Briscoe. Holding just a single top-five and 5 top-tens in 2024, Preece did not drum up a lot of anticipation for the next season.

But not only did Ryan Preece destroy his detractors’ doubts, he is doing so every week. Beginning with his aggressive Daytona attempt, which led to an airborne mess right up to his front-row spot in Darlington, Preece has been doing things right. That is because his worries are elsewhere now.

Ryan Preece is now one of the contenders

After clinching a spectacular podium finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ryan Preece did not back down. He followed it up with two more top-ten finishes at Homestead-Miami and Martinsville. He approached Darlington with the same amount of gusto and determination – Preece almost beat Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron to the pole. In just his fourth front-row start of his career, Preece fell short of just 0.84 seconds of Byron’s 28.774-second lap. Starting on the outside of the Goodyear 400, Preece proceeded magnificently.

On lap 17, William Byron had a 2-second lead over Ryan Preece. However, the No. 60 car covered up the gap, gradually coming close to half-second by lap 30 and being 0.8 seconds behind by lap 39. Preece could have overtaken Byron if not for an ill-timed caution spurred by Carson Hocevar and Riley Herbst on lap 83. The No. 60 crew chief, Derrick Finley, shed light on this part: “It helps to know that you have that speed when you have a day like today. But just frustrating, you know, with things not going our way. We did take a gamble by pitting early and got caught by the caution. But we’re trying to go forward.” 

Ryan Preece dropped off to 3rd by the end of Stage 1 and was not inside the top ten by Stage 2 and finished the race in 26th. Despite this fallout, Finley reminded us of how Preece is battling front-row contenders every week. Instead of biting their nails about being a factor, they are instead concerned about when to clinch their first win.“Every week, we’re worried about how to win, not how to survive.”

This highlights the optimism flowing through the #60 camp. Preece has already bettered his average finish in 2025 (17.9) compared to last year (20.9). This three-position up-tick is all down to his skillful driving and precise strategy. The race where this was reflected the most was in Pheonix, where Preece used Goodyear’s option tires to shoot up from 33rd to 11th in a matter of laps. The speed is there, and so are the results. Now, all the #60 team needs is a win to announce themselves on the biggest stage.

Finley continued optimistically, “We’re trying to do what we can to get the finishes that we want. We’re still playing aggressive, just like we have been all year. This time it bit us, so frustrating, but at least we know we had some pace.”This spectacular pace has been a result of hard work, patience, and passion. But the astounding fact in all of this is the limited amount of time they had to work it out.

Putting together the pieces

At one point in 2024, rumors of Ryan Preece dropping down the ranks emerged. People questioned the trajectory of his career as he had not scored a single victory in almost a decade of Cup racing. However, Brad Keselowski showed faith in Preece’s potential – just like he placed faith in his team. In 2023, he took over Roush Fenway Racing, a former powerhouse that had fallen on hard times. So far, RFK Racing has produced five victories since Keselowski hopped aboard. Similarly, the team owner put in efforts to breathe new life into Preece’s career. After purchasing one of SHR’s charters and expanding into a 3-car team, Keselowski went through a process that took two years.

That process involved select starts by the No. 60 Ford, including a best finish of 4th clinched by Joey Hand at the Chicago Street Race. Brad Keselowski reflected on the efforts recently: “We were able to take that infrastructure that was slowly built during 2024 that gave us the bones of a team and pitched that to partners and bring in a blue chip brand like Kroger that helped us expand to a full-time three-car team.” Then, he recruited Preece at the end of last year and hired his crew chief shortly after. “We were able to obviously add a full-time driver in Ryan Preece and some more talent to the company and team over the last four to six months.” Already, the No. 60 team is working wonders.

Evidently, Ryan Preece is doing justice to Brad Keselowski’s hard work for the No. 60 team. We can only wait and see where the Ford trendsetter clinches his first win.