Information By: MIKE ARNING / STEWART-HAAS RACING – KANNAPOLIS, NC
RYAN PREECE
Kansas Advance
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Event Overview
● Event: Hollywood Casino 400 (Round 30 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 29
● Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Ryan Preece and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com team of Stewart-Haas Racing look to continue their recent stretch of consistency when they visit Kansas Speedway in Kansas City for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race. They’re coming off a strong seventh-place finish in the annual Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, which was Preece’s second top-10 in a row and fourth of the season. Preece was also the top-finishing Stewart-Haas driver for the third time in the last six races with his fourth consecutive result of 18th or better. He finished 12th Sept. 1 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, 18th Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and ninth Sept. 15 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International before his seventh-place run last Saturday at Bristol.
● Sunday’s 267-lap race will mark Preece’s 10th NASCAR Cup Series start at Kansas and his fourth for Stewart-Haas. Best among his previous Kansas outings was his 12th-place finish from the 28th starting position in October 2019 for JTG Daugherty Racing. Preece’s best Kansas outing for Stewart-Haas came in September 2023, which he also started 28th and drove to an 18th-place finish.
● Preece has three starts outside of the NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas, two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. His lone Truck Series start at Kansas resulted in a third-place finish from the seventh starting position with David Gilliland Racing in September 2022. Preece’s most recent Xfinity Series outing at Kansas in October 2018 was the most promising. He started seventh in his Joe Gibbs Racing entry and charged into the top-five early in the race, finishing third in the opening stage. But a multicar accident on lap 91 of the 200-lap race took him out of contention, leaving him to salvage only a 21st-place finish.
● Riding along with Preece in the Hollywood Casino 400 is Sherry Pollex. Via a decal over the passenger-side window of Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Pollex’s valiant, nine-year battle with ovarian cancer is being highlighted by the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation’s and the NASCAR Foundation’s Honor a Cancer Hero program. Pollex passed away on Sept. 17, 2023, and throughout her cancer journey, she supported many causes related to childhood and ovarian cancers. Pollex founded the Sherry Strong Integrative Medicine Oncology Clinic at Novant Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, and created SherryStrong.org to help women understand early detection and treatment options for ovarian cancer. Pollex was nominated for the Honor a Cancer Hero program by Jerrod Deitchler.
● Joining Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Kansas is HaasTooling.com, the cutting tool division of Haas Automation. HaasTooling.com allows CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Haas Automation, founded in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, rotaries and indexers, and automation solutions.
Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You’ve had some solid runs on intermediate-style tracks the latter half of the season, highlighted by your fourth-place result at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway the last weekend in June. How do you feel that trend bodes for your efforts at Kansas this weekend?
“For us, we’ve been getting a lot better on the mile-and-a-halves and making some gains there. So as long as we can continue down that path and really just work on our short-run speed, I think that’ll be the difference in really changing how we run. But Kansas is also a track that you need to be able to have a good car that’ll run the top and keep running and be fast. So, yeah, I feel pretty optimistic that we’re heading down that path. We need to continue focusing on consistency, getting the most out of practice and qualifying, and running well during the race. That means I’ve got to be on it, we’ve got to be on it with strategy and on pit road. All of it is coming together and, even though all of the results don’t show it, we’re getting there. This team is working really hard on putting it all together and capitalizing on that. If we’re able to be consistent all the way through to the end of the year, those better results will keep coming.”
What are the particular challenges when it comes to putting together a complete race at Kansas relative to the other intermediate-style tracks?
“Kansas is totally different from the others just because the outside is the dominant lane. You need to be able to move around and go where they can’t to have a good run there. Usually, Kansas is a track where you fight loose. The wind can be totally different going into one corner versus the other, so you’ve got to have a good balance between the two. And, as seems to be the case everywhere we go, track position is going to be the big thing. Our team has been working hard on finding the right balance at these tracks. We’re going to really emphasize qualifying and getting a good starting position. It’s all about track position, it’s the biggest thing at these tracks. We’ve seen it all season long, right? If you have the track position, it could be a good day, so that’s what we need to do. If we can get a good starting position and execute on the track, I think we can put ourselves in a good spot at the end.”
Is there anything you can bring to this weekend’s race from your time in May at Kansas?
“Conditions can usually be very different from the first to the second time we go there. It was on the cooler side there for the spring race and it’s supposed to be warmer but not too hot this weekend, so we’ll just have to see how that plays out. It’s all about what the racetrack gives us on Sunday.”
You’re down to your final seven races with Stewart-Haas. What’s your mindset as you close out your run with the organization?
“It’s no different than it always has been. That never changes for me. My mindset is getting out there every weekend and executing to win races. That’s why we’re all here, right? To win. To show that we belong in this series. I’ve fought way too hard to be here for that not to be the goal, and I know that everyone on my team feels the same way. I’m thankful to be here and be racing, and I know what we’re capable of. We’ve been focused on consistency throughout the entire season. That doesn’t stop now just because we aren’t fighting for a championship. We’re fighting for wins every weekend and I believe if we keep growing as a team down to the very end, we’re going to keep getting those top-10s and keep getting better.”