In early January, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Aric Almirola announced he would be retiring from full-time Cup Series racing at the conclusion of the 2022 season. Labeled by many as a “good guy” of the sport a great deal of fans, myself included, were saddened at this sudden announcement. Still, the timing of this announcement was suspiciously well timed up with another big announcement made by SHR. And with that, Silly Season 2023 has officially begun at MotorMax.
Aric Almirola has been racing at the top level of NASCAR since 2007. In his 14 seasons to date, he amassed 3 wins, 26 top 5’s, and 84 top 10’s, as well as 3 poles and a best points finish of fifth (2018). He started out splitting rides part time beginning with the DEI #01 and #8 car in 2007-2009 before switching to Phoenix Racing’s #09 car and Richard Petty Motorsports’ #9 car in 2010. Then in 2012, he transitioned full-time to RPM’s flagship #43 car. He spent 6 of his full time seasons driving for Richard Petty Motorsports, but after some sponsor disputes with the team, Almriola moved to his current ride at the Stewart-Haas Racing #10.
In 2022, SHR will have the same driver lineup in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2015-16. In January, just days before Almirola’s retirement announcement, the team announced free-agent Ryan Preece was signed to the team as a “backup driver” and simulator test driver, as well as running select Cup, xFinity, and Truck Series with satellite affiliated teams. Originally, most rumors pointed to Preece taking over the #4 car (currently driven by Kevin Harvick) in 2024 following the former champion’s predicted retirement following the 2023 season. Yet with Almirola’s announcement, all signs are pointing to Ryan Preece driving the #10 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2023.
Ryan Preece got his start in NASCAR by racing in the Whelen Modified Series, which he still races part-time in today. He has an impressive 25 wins, 81 top 5’s, and 107 top 10’s as well as 18 poles and the 2013 series championship. Also in 2013, the Berlin, Connecticut native made his xFinity Series debut at Loudon, where he started 27th and finished 24th. He came back in 2014 for 2 races and sat out 2015, however, he made his Cup Series debut in 2015 driving for Tommy Baldwin Racing and Premium Motorsports. He returned for his only full-time stint in the xFinity Series in 2016. He only collected one top 10 in the 33 starts and finished 17th in the standings driving for JD Motorsports. The following season was much different for Preece, as he was signed to a part-time deal with Joe Gibbs Racing’s powerful xFinity program. In his 4 starts, he collected a win, as well as top 5’s in each start. His average finish that season was 3.0. In 2018, he was back for 15 races, in which he nabbed his second career victory and added 7 top 5’s and 10 top 10’s.
The beginning of the 2019 season saw even bigger things for Preece. He moved to JR Motorsports for 4 races in the xFinity Series and, for the first time since Homestead 2015, Preece was in a Cup Series ride. However, this time around, it was full time in JTG Daugherty Racing’s #47 Chevy. He was brought up to replace the departing AJ Allmendinger in the #47, and was accompanied by Chris Buescher who piloted their #37 Chevy. For a rookie, his stats were mediocre; 3 top 10’s and 1 top 5 with no wins and no poles. Granted, he was in mid-tier equipment so expectations for him weren’t insanely high. 2020 saw Preece move over to the #37 car as Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. moved into the #47. Chris Buescher moved on to Roush Fenway Racing (now RFK Racing) for a reunion after winning the 2015 xFinity championship for the team. Preece’s stats in 2020 were considerably worse than the previous year. Granted, this was the year of the Covid-19 outbreak that shuffled the sport for everyone, but Preece could only round up 2 top 10’s and no top 5’s. Worse still Preece pieced together a streak of 3 last place finishes in 3 races.
To the surprise of many, Preece was kept around by JTG Daugherty for the 2021 season. However, the car was not “chartered,” meaning there was a chance he could miss out on races if he was too low in owner points or failed to qualify in the few races that had qualifying. Despite that, Preece lit up and had the best season of his career thus far. 1 top 5 and 4 top 10’s with just one last place finish (Road America). He even took on the Truck Series for two races and won in his first start in Nashville. Yet, even with all the improvement, JTG Daugherty announced in September that the team would only field one car in 2022 with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Worse for Preece, the prospects of the xFinity and Truck Series, as well as the downsizing and closing of other smaller teams, like Rick Ware and StarCom, meant options were limited. By December, things weren’t looking hopeful. At best, he’d probably end up in a mid-tier xFinity or Truck ride and have to rebuild himself to the Cup Series. All of that changed in January, however.
On January 6, 2022, Stewart-Haas Racing announced Preece as their reserve driver, meaning he would serve as a backup in the case of injury or illness to a primary driver. In addition, Preece would do simulator training with the team and would run several races in the Cup, xFinity and Truck Series for SHR affiliated teams. After the announcement, it seemed clear that Preece would take over Kevin Harvick’s #4 at the end of the 2023 season, when Harvick’s contract with SHR went up and he was predicted to retire. However, just 4 days removed from Preece’s big announcement, another bomb was dropped in the SHR stable. Aric Almirola announced his retirement from NASCAR at the conclusion of the 2022 season. All of a sudden, Preece seemed like the top candidate for the #10 car in 2023.
While sad to see Aric Almirola go, a door has been opened for some young talent to have a major opportunity in the coming years. Preece is still relatively unproven, having spent his 3 full-time seasons in mediocre equipment. Now that the opportunity seems to be presenting itself, how will Preece handle it in 2023? Let me know your thoughts on my Twitter and share this article!
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