Ford Dark Horse Mustang Takes Ryan Preece to First Cup Win of 2026 Season for RFK Racing – NASCAR Photo Image
* Ryan Preece captured his first win at the NASCAR Cup level with
tonight’s win in the Clash at Bowman Gray
* Preece is the eighth different Ford driver to win the Clash, joining
Bill Elliott, Geoffrey Bodine, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin,
Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.
* This marks Ford’s 11th victory in the Clash.
* It’s also the first win for co-owner Jack Roush in the Clash since
Martin’s triumph in 1999.
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Coca-Cola Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW
WHAT ARE YOUR EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW? “Man, they all hit me. I feel bad
for Roush Yates Engines right now because that thing is bouncing off the
chip pretty hard. I’ve got to thank Ford, Ford Racing and everybody
there with all the support they give us. As far as emotions go, when you
work as hard as I have, I hate talking about it because I hate getting
emotional about it, but it’s not just the Clash – winning means
everything to me. I’ve put a lot into it.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN AT THIS PLACE? “I’m a quarter-mile killer.
When it comes to this style of racing it’s what I grew up doing. I
used to drive for a guy, Eddie Partridge, and he owned Riverhead
Raceway, and I was racing for Bill Park and it’s an absolute grind.
The moment to get here, it’s a lead up to the year and it’s not a
points race, but winning means everything. Man, I’m just
speechless.”
DRY TRACK. WET TRACK. DRYING TRACK. WHAT WAS THE KEY TO GET YOU TO THE
FRONT AND THEN SURVIVE AT THE END? “Just having lanes go my way. I
think the short track side of understanding how to not get bullied, but
understand you don’t want to piss somebody off. There’s a balance. I
definitely didn’t want a caution. I was kind of pacing myself those
last 10 laps because I didn’t want to run them down and put ourselves
in that position to have to put myself in a bad position. I usually give
a good interview, but this is just amazing.”
FORD FINISHING RESULTS
1st – Ryan Preece
3rd – Ryan Blaney
8th – Chris Buescher
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Josh Berry
21st – Austin Cindric
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford Mustang Dark Horse
– YOU WENT FROM THE BACK TO THE FRONT SO MANY TIMES, AND PASSED SO
MANY CARS. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR NIGHT AS A WHOLE? “A pretty wild
day. From the race, we were really, really good in the dry. I thought we
were the best car by a mile the first half, driving from 16th to fourth
and I was really looking forward to getting the second half going and
then it started raining. A wintry mix I guess you could call it, and
then the rain tires went on and when we fired off in the rain I went
straight backwards. I wasn’t good. My car wasn’t handling good, and
then as it started to dry out my car came back. Even on the wet tires,
my car came back a little bit and we were able to pick a couple good
lanes and creep through there and ended up third. Overall, a back and
forth night, but I’m proud of the effort and proud of a really fast
car in the dry, and then just sticking with it in the wet. It dried up a
little bit for us to be able to go back forward.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR A DRIVER WHEN THINGS CHANGE ON THE
TRACK? “It’s odd. Honestly, I was pretty nervous because our car was
so good in the dry. When you just throw wets on it you can’t really
adjust anything. I’m like, ‘Uh oh, I don’t know if we’re gonna
be very good,’ because what my car did really good in the dry is not
what you really want in the wet, so I was nervous about that. But, I was
just looking forward to it to stop raining and hopefully get somewhat of
a dry lane going on and it eventually did. My car came back a little
bit. It still handles way different on wet tires, but it’s pretty fun
as a driver. When it first got raining it was really top dominant. The
bottom was so slippery and you saw a bunch of guys that couldn’t
really pass anybody, but once the dry lane started and kind of started
working down you could have a little more options, so that makes it fun
as a driver. An ever-changing racetrack is neat and trying to look at
the track lap to lap like, ‘Alright, did it get a little bit drier
higher up or lower?’ That’s what is fun for a driver. We don’t do
it that often, so it’s neat when we can do it.”