Ryan Preece is unhappy. Following a NASCAR penalty that was upheld after RFK appealed to the National Motorsports Appeal Panel, Preece has been measured with his words.

The incident dates back to the Texas race, where Preece was hit with the penalty for ‘intentionally’ taking out Ty Gibbs. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had made it difficult for Preece early on, and a comment Preece made over the radio was considered in calling his nudge on Gibbs premeditated. 

After being hit with a 25-point deduction and a $50,000 penalty, most questions surrounding Ryan Preece have been about how he will use his radio from now on. As per the findings by the NASCAR stewards, one of Preece’s comments was about not cutting somebody a break. But that line was said outside his car, not on the radio.

Preece was asked if that meant he had to be careful of what he spoke on the radio and even otherwise. 

He simply responded, "I think that statement was pretty powerful. Read between the lines.” The 60 RFK driver was also asked if he is going to be more cautious speaking on the radio, to which he replied by bringing in the driver’s philosophy.

"It wouldn’t have taken $50,000 and a 25-point fine to adjust that. All it took was one conversation from Mr Jack Roush, and I can promise you I wouldn’t."

Preece added further about how drivers treat their radio to vent. 

“It's kind of like going to a psychiatrist. You aren’t going to sit in front of a mirror and talk to yourself. You need somebody to hear it. But yeah, I certainly won't be hitting that button. 

Preece also posted a cryptic message on social media. It was an edit of a scene from the TV show Suits where Harvey Specter is speaking about how rules aren’t always right and how he stands by everything he has done and won’t do anything different if it happens again.

It will be interesting to watch how Preece goes about the radio messaging for the foreseeable future. But for now, the points deduction is a big blow to his Chase journey.

Preece shares impact of points loss on Chase chances

Ryan Preece sits at 17th now after the Nashville race. He has 304 points, and the 25 docked points would have seen him 16th on points, right under Bubba Wallace (338 points).

The top 16 get into the Chase. For Preece, the penalty certainly doesn’t help his cause. When asked about the impact of the points lost, he said,

“You can do the match. Technically, if you were to do the average of what it takes to make the playoffs, it’s probably around 26 points a race or maybe a little north of that. That’s a race. It’s like a DNF. “

Despite that, Preece remains confident and focused, as he said, “I’m not too concerned. I like the fact that it puts us in this situation of playing offense more than being concerned about; we need to keep it in 12th or hopefully above. So now we’ve got to fight to go forward. That’s where our goals are.”

While Preece was disappointed with the outcome of the penalty and the appeal process, he did say, “I’m extremely appreciative to be in this sport. I’m looking forward to racing this weekend.”

Both Preece and RFK will hope to secure the playoff, and RFK has the issue of losing the charter for the 60 car, which Preece currently drives. Right now, he's the only RFK driver not in the cutoff, as Chris Buescher sits at 8th while team owner Brad Keselowski sits at 13th.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason