Ryan Preece confirms he's returning to No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing team next year
Ryan Preece confirmed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday he will return to Stewart-Haas Racing behind the wheel of the No. 41 Ford for the 2024 Cup Series season.
The ongoing 2023 season has been Preece’s first with Stewart-Haas Racing, in which he sits 25th in the points standings having notched one top-5 finish in 30 starts.
“I’m gonna be here with the 41 at SHR next year,” Preece said. “Definitely looking forward to it, and we’ve made a lot of gains [this season].”
Preece, who has struggled at times this season, expressed optimism for the final six races of the season.
“Last weekend was pretty frustrating just because we drove our way into the top-5 and unfortunately was on the wrong end of one of the last restarts and nothing to show for a day where you worked really hard to get to where you were in the last 10 laps,” Preece said. “Moving forward, I like the direction of the things that we’ve been working on here at SHR… It makes me optimistic going into not only Talladega because we have such fast superspeedway cars, but going to Las Vegas.
“Our mile and a half stuff — it’s never been really my strong suit. But some of the things we’ve worked on — I feel really eager and excited to get to Las Vegas. And obviously when we go to Martinsville and Phoenix, those are two of our stronger tracks. So we have a good couple of races coming up.”
Ryan Preece returns to new-look Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024
With Kevin Harvick heading off into retirement at season’s end, Preece will be joined by Chase Briscoe and the newly-signed Josh Berry at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024. Berry, an Xfinity Series regular, will pilot the No. 4 Ford vacated by Harvick, the 2014 Cup Series champion. He sits 11th in the points standings this season driving the No. 8 Chevrolet for Jr. Motorsports. Berry won three races and finished fourth in the points standings in 2022.
In addition, he has appeared in 10 Cup Series races this season for Hendrick Motorsports. He first piloted the No. 9 Chevrolet while Chase Elliott recovered from a broken left leg and again for three races in the No. 48 Chevrolet as Alex Bowman recovered from a fractured vertebra. Berry recorded an average finish of 18.9, finishing as high as second in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. He finished with two starts for Legacy Motor Club behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chevrolet.