Tony Stewart’s NASCAR Driver Leaves Richmond Unsatisfied Despite Career-Best Finish
Throughout this season, Tony Stewart’s Stewart Haas Racing as an organization just haven’t had the level of success they are capable of across all their drivers. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite with things like Kevin Harvick’s incoming retirement, the uncertainty on Aric Almirola’s future along with the poor results.
However, things could change or at least see an upward curve after the recent Cup race at Richmond. Apart from Chase Briscoe (11th), all their drivers, Kevin Harvick (10th), Aric Almirola (8th), and Ryan Preece (5th), managed a finish inside the Top 10.
And it was Preece, who, despite managing to score a career-best finish, remained somewhat unsatisfied with the result.
Ryan Preece proud after Top 5 finish, but remained unsatisfied with the result
Speaking in a post-race interview, Preece expressed his pride with his crew chief Chad Johnston and the #41 team as he commended “a really good for the whole organization.”
“If we can consistently bring cars like that and all of us keep ourselves accountable, we’ll continue to be where we want to be,” Preece said. “Unfortunately, I wish we could’ve won the race or finished top three like we were going to.”
“But the hands we were dealt for the final run, just a little too tight. But man, that long run was our ticket.”
Having said that, Preece touched upon the relationship he has with his crew. He said, “My guys are bada**, so I’m pretty happy. I love the relationship we all have. I joked with them before I walked out to intros that I gave them a good job for a qualifying spot, Chad gave me a good car to race, everything was on them from here on out. Obviously, they held up their end of the bargain.”
Preece claimed they’re aiming for more top 5s, more wins, and more top 15s. And given his confidence in his crew chief and his crew chief’s confidence in him, they’re building towards where the #41 SHR team could be.
Tony Stewart was pretty stoked to award Preece his shot in the NASCAR Cup Series
After Preece was announced as the driver for the #41 team towards the end of last season, SHR co-owner Tony Stewart described why Preece was his pick for the seat. “Ryan has bet on himself a couple of times in his career and it’s always paid off. Now we’re betting on him,”Stewart said as per ESPN.
“I’ve run some Modified Tour races, and it’s a tough series with a lot of talent. Ryan’s Mod Tour championship speaks to his talent, and I think he proved that when he pushed all his chips into the middle of the table and bet on himself by getting those Xfinity Series races with Gibbs.”
Stewart added that when Preece got “the right opportunity,” he delivered in a big way, that he finally has his opportunity in the Cup, that they’re proud to have him and look forward to seeing what he can do in their cars.
And while it may have taken Preece almost half a season to prove his talent in the form of results, after Richmond, it looks like he could be the one who brings SHR their first win of the season.
