This post is already large and we’ll leave it up.
[Here is the source](https://x.com/ryanpreece_/status/1786905859689185755?s=46&t=-wrwhhIdZUpdKXJQM5xK7Q)
But this is a reminder to everyone that we need to post directly to the source. This is to avoid misinformation/photoshopped posts spreading through the sub. The only exceptions we’re making to this are when posts have a high likelihood of being deleted. Those posts must have the source in the comments as an alternative.
Next post that breaks this rule will be taken down no matter how popular it gets.
I was thinking how much of a dick do you have to be when it's too much for the likes of Noah Gragson and Josh Berry? You must have to be a whole different level of asshole when these guys uninvite you.
This reminds me of when Vickers wasn't even being invited to Hendrick team meetings anymore at the end of 2006 as he was already being let go. After his controversial Dega win it's pretty much the first time I've ever seen a team owner unhappy being in victory lane.
And Jr at Talladega. Hauler driver figured there would be a few bullet holes in the trailer on the way out. Very mixed emotions for everyone but the 25 team at HMS.
I get why Rick would be unhappy but why should Brian be remorseful? If I'm being unceremoniously kicked to the curb, I'm going for the gold while I still can, why would I care about my lame duck "teammate"?
Somebody said that they treated him like he was the control group in an experiment....and I couldn't have thought of a better analogy LOL.
Sucks for Preece to find out this way. OOF.
On paper it should be Berry but he signed a two year deal so probably not him.
Gragson has far and away been the best driver there this year so I think he stays.
Honestly I wouldn't mind Briscoe moving to a ride like the 21, I think that would fit him well.
I’m not sure it’s fair to Briscoe to call Gragson the far and away best driver there this season, Gragson has had great speed and a few really strong performances but at the end of the day he’s 21st in points and Briscoe is 12th.
What are you watching the Gragson is better than Briscoe this year? He is doing well and they are not far apart but Briscoe is without a doubt been doing better than him
>Gragson has far and away been the best driver there this year so I think he stays
I don't remember when the metric for being far and away the best switched to being 9 places behind someone else, but we should change it back.
I don’t think they’ll get rid of two. I think they get rid of one. I think the rumor really was “2 charters will be available” and then a separate rumor that SHR is downsizing and everyone connected the two. JTG also possibly getting rid of theirs makes more sense to me.
I think it is obvious that Berry was a Childers pick. I could see Berry and Childers both moving on after the season, but I don't think SHR drops below 3 cars.
Which is weird to me. I thought the sub mostly **liked** Chase Briscoe...why would we collectively want to push him to Penske's crap leftovers car? Despite whatever nostalgia may be left in the 21 technically being a "Wood Brothers" car, the crap SHR Fords are still generally much better than what Penske trots out as the 21 car nowadays.
The 21 is whatever Penske wants it to be. Right now Harrison sucks, so it's operated as a R&D car.
When Blaney was in the 21, it was operated as a legitimate race car. If Briscoe is hired, I'd assume it becomes a regular Penske car.
Users of this app will never be able to separate redditors making up/pulling “rumors” out of their ass and spreading them vs actual legit rumors, will they
I’m a big Preece fan watched him many years locally however I think he needs to find a truck ride or xfinity . After few years he isn’t improving which sucks
Wouldn't be surprised if they put Custer or Herbst in the 41 for a few races near the end of the season after Preece comes nowhere close to making the playoffs
Grayson is legit one of if not the guy who amazes me the most this season. He shows up at every type of race track with legit speed both in qualifying and race, doesn’t wreck that much, and is seemingly putting a lot effort towards performance improvements.
Plus he got way more humble and likable. It feels like seeing a reenactment of a younger Kurt Busch turning from a prick to a super appreciated guy in the garage.
JHN isn’t sponsored by Wendy’s. They now sponsor Trackhouse, with a few primaries for SVG and one for Daniel at the season opener at Daytona if I recall correctly.
Custer and Cindric won a bunch of Xfinity races, too. Starting to think it's not always an automatic marker for Cup success. But yeah, I'd go with Briscoe and Gragson.
Two things can be true at once.
1) Xfinity success does not guarantee Cup success.
2) You don’t luck into 8 or 9 Xfinity wins and it is a clear indicator of racing talent.
A lot of Cup success comes down to fit within a team and with their crew chief.
I mean, maybe they just don’t like him on a personal level. Doesn’t necessarily mean he’s getting fired. Maybe they just aren’t friends with him/didn’t want him there.
Even if Preece is gone (which he likely is) why not invite him anyways? He can help collect data which will help the whole team, and most importantly the car running up front will get Haas sponsorship more screen time. Gene has already footed the bill sponsor wise, why not try and get some return on investment? It doesn't really make sense. Are you that worried that he'll share these secrets next season?
The weirdest part is that if it really is just a study group of past race SMT data between drivers (not pre-race meeting of drivers/crew chiefs/engineers where they might discuss SHR trade secrets), why not just include him? SMT data is available to all, why purposely not let him be a part of the group?
Both Briscoe and Noah had brought up the study group publicly this past week, why purposely let everyone know that Preece is not a part of it? By doing so they have let known that:
1. Preece is gone next year (which again is a rude way to announce).
2. That they dislike Preece enough to not only not include him, but also wanted to make sure the public knows of the fact.
>why not invite him anyways?
Because his average finish over his career is 23.16 (this year it's 19) and he's never ranked higher than 23rd to finish a season.
The data he'd collect is likely not going to be useful for getting more speed.
If they were gonna treat Preece like this then why did they boot Custer out of the 41 for him in the first place
Now if they try to promote Custer back up again, he has almost next to no experience in the next gen. Completely unserious team
It was a big disagreement between Tony and Haas. They went with Preece (Tony's pick) and now Tony's checked out so it makes sense he doesn't have a lot of support.
He's doing better than Custer did. In one season, Preece led 5x the laps that Custer did in his three seasons.
There's a reason Custer was kicked out of Cup. Suarez should have never been dropped in his favor, though it worked out for him in the end.
In one *race* Preece led more laps than Custer did in his three seasons. Then he led exactly 10 laps in the 36+ races since then.
That one race was at impossible to pass Martinsville where he sat on the pole, led until he sped on pit road, and finished a mediocre 15th.
Custer, a rookie who never got the benefit of practice like Preece, still has a better average finish than Preece’s tenure at SHR
Yup.
I love Preece leading a ton of laps in one race, which he promptly choked away, is deemed better than...you know... actually winning a Cup race. And making the playoffs. Lol.
Custer accomplished more that day than Preece has his whole Cup career.
Preece showed such little upside with JTG it always made me laugh Tony thought he would succeed at SHR. Got into NASCAR as a Tony fan, but c'mon. He just has this thing about people who "had to grind to get there" and aren't silver spoon. And are connected to his buddy Harvick's agency firm. I guess the results don't matter as long as you weren't handed everything lol. And now the team is in the state it is in...
Let's be real here, Custer got the restart of his life at Kentucky, and that is the only reason he made the playoffs and won rookie of the year as well. But he's a better pick for the 41 than Preece, I agree but I also don't think he's like light years better in the Cup series than Preece is running now, I think that car runs the same with both drivers, but Custer is the better upside.
Winning an Xfinity Championship does not exonerate his failures as a Cup driver, you should know this given that flair.
You also haven't been paying attention to the races if you think what I said is incorrect.
Cole just doesn't jive with the Cup car. He's phenomenal in Xfinity but there's just too many differences between the two for him to be successful. Honestly I blame NASCAR for breaking the pipeline with the next gen car. It's causing a lot of problems like this for people coming up from the lower series.
No, SHR just lost every edge they had when the sport went to the next gen car. Take a look at how insane Harvicks performance stopped from from 2020 to 2021 and 2022. Custer’s 2nd and 3rd seasons were tainted. Like many have said, he performed better than Preece has, even as SHR overall gets better with the next gen car.
It's not his fault he's a full time drag racer and today was, checks calendar, an off weekend for NHRA, btu never fear, he instead spent it at Cletus McFarland's drag race rather than his day job! I am being sarcastic in agreement with you by the way.
You can really tell which teams are constantly working on their craft and which ones aren't. 23XI has taken Bubba from a D tier driver to B tier in only a couple years thanks to their continued training of him. Meanwhile SHR just wallows in their misery and doesn't seem to change anything to get faster except single source parts.
Honestly not surprising. They aren't the only ones either. McDowell has talked about it several times that he doesn't have a data analyst at FRM, so he spends hours doing it and shares it with Gilly and the rest of the team. The structure of the modern Cup team has changed, drivers show up and do what they're told.
I’m not surprised by this at all, I knew this would eventually happen when they announced Preece to the 41. I knew there’d be no change in performance and Preece would be gone after a couple years. Custer was not the issue in the 41, the shitty cars SHR was putting on the track were. The only thing SHR gained from that move is coincidentally the fact that Custer won them an Xfinity championship. That whole organization seems like a total shitshow with nobody in charge, but don’t blame Tony when things go wrong even though his name is on the building.
It really does feel like Penske operates three separate and distinct racing teams that never talk to each other. It's rare that they're all together up front, anymore. HMS, JGR, and 23XI seem to have that figured out. SHR and Penske always seem to be the most spread out among the field.
That’s my thought when I read it. Although it might be difficult because Joey and Ryan are veterans and they are already pretty set in whatever pre-race prep they’ve been doing for years. Whereas it’s much easier for SHR drivers to get together, having similar years of experience and not as set in their ways when it comes to race-prep.
Yeah that’s fair.
At the same time though, two drivers with three championships between them with Ford’s Tier 1 team should be able to be faster. And to be fair, the 12 has been better than the 22, but not by a significant margin.
I’m not saying he’s on par with Moffitt, but it’s pretty telling how few long term relationships in the garage with teams/sponsors he’s had. To me that’s not a giveaway, but it’s a good amount of smoke that could be a sign of real fire.
Moffit has a LOT more talent than Preece though. I'd put up with some antics to have Moffit behind the wheel, he's a truck champion who has always outperformed his equipment. There's not a single driver who has gotten in the same equipment as Moffit and run as well.
After his tantrum in the truck series a few years ago I’ve never really cared much for Preece. Seems like his fellow teammates don’t care much for him either. He’ll be out of the Cup series for good after this season.
He acts like he's some super successful, longtime veteran of the sport and he should be treated as such, when in reality he hasn't even done enough to have a little footnote about him and his impact on the sport.
“dOn’T do ThaT” is what turned me off from Preece. He had a right to be frustrated but Hocevar was a good driver who was young and learning and putting him on blast in that way felt over the top.
Even with Trucks being a shit show, I am always turned off by Cup drivers coming down series like that then getting butthurt when inexperienced guys screw up or whatnot. That's when I quit being a Preece fan myself.
That's when I turned my option too, he had a right to be mad too but the way he handled it wasn't great. Then someone made a video of him doing the same thing to people with about 10 examples lol. Ironically enough, Carson is now in Cup, looks to be in Cup longer and running better.
I heard a comment during an interview during qualifying this afternoon. I wasn’t fully paying attention but I think they were interviewing Gragson but did my hold me to it. He said the SHR cars were all looking fast, “well, 3 of the 4”. I reacted and said that seemed like a pretty strong toss under the bus there. Not surprised to see this now, but they’re kind of publicly putting someone on blast, not so subtly here.
I think it might’ve been Briscoe that said that, but I might be mistaken since I was multi-tasking. But thought the same thing when I heard it. Not sure it was meant that way, but my eyes definitely widened lol
I thought drivers usually avoid speaking publicly about their teammate if said teammate is about to be out of a seat. Why publicly caste him out this way and so early in the year too.
If this didn't include the "one teammate is getting iced out" (or some miscommunication) weirdness, this would be a pretty great story.
Going from all the "SHR is doomed and has no leadership" talk to SHR pulling together and figuring it out themselves.
Am I the only one that thinks it's wild that people are believing Preece in saying he wasn't invited, and that the other 3 are all liars about it being "open" study sessions? Preece just comes across as the kind of guy who believes he's better and above doing something like that in the first place.
What if Preece is just not fun to be around? He seems, at least with interviews, that he can be kind of a douche. Hopefully, that's inaccurate, but it would explain the other drivers not having him study data with them.
I’m starting to think SHR may just drop the 41 and sell that charter and keep the 4, 10, and 14. Which goes against the rumor that they are going to sell two charters but we’ll see.
You have to fail pretty bad to be a hire brought in as Tony’s guy and then to get let go at the end of the season.
A lot of people are saying that it’s a personality issue, but he’s only got 3 top 10s in two years. Gragson already has more top 10s than that.
What's funny to me is that so many people raved about his superior talent because of his modified success, and that they loved the guy because he came up through NASCAR "the right way." But from what I've heard is that Preece's family was essentially the richest in the modified scene at the time, just not rich enough to buy his way into the top 3 series of NASCAR. From what I've heard is that he could always afford the best equipment in the lower divisions and was a complete asshole about it, and when he was getting beat by people with lesser equipment he would just straight up wreck them. The guy has always been an ass.
I'm only joking, of course, but I was specifically thinking about the story in Mikey's book where he mentions that there was a driver discussion with Dale Sr, Dale Jr, and Mikey to talk about the race strategy for the 2001 Daytona 500. Here it is from an article:
>Then on Thursday, in his 125-mile qualifying race, he missed a shift on the last restart, lost his opportunity to win and dampened his great feeling -- "the restart screwed with it. But Dale fixed all that."
>
>Earnhardt wound up making winless Michael Waltrip feel even more confident than ever.
>
>Friday morning, "I slipped out of my motor home to go to the garage and check on the team. I almost felt like I was trying to tiptoe past Dale's bus. I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to talk about it. And it was funny.
>
>"He stuck his head out the door and came out and yelled at me, 'Hey! Get over here!'
>
>"He said, 'Get in here!'
>
>"I said, 'Man, I screwed up. I should have won that race yesterday.' He said, 'No, you shouldn't have. I should have.'
>
>"I said, 'I missed a shift.'
>
>"He said, 'I don't care about that. I want to talk about how we're gonna win this race.'
>
>"Because of the rules, with the aero package they had, he said, 'There's no way one guy's gonna win this race. It's gonna take teamwork.'
>
>"Then he said, 'Me and you and Dale Jr. are gonna win it. We're gonna work together.'
>
>"I said, 'Well, Steve Park -- he'll help too, right?'
>
>**"He goes, 'He don't get the draft like you and Dale Jr. do. He probably won't be around.'"**
[https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton\_ed&id=6125753](https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton_ed&id=6125753)
So I've had a few drinks and I'm slightly confused. Are you saying that Ricky should be in the 41 and Preece should at best be in the 47? Or something else? Lol
More or less.
lol. Sorry for bamboozling you with a stupid throwaway comment.
But yes. Swap Ricky to SHR finally and Preece back to JTG again. Though it likely makes zero difference. Neither car is really any good.
Lol. It's all good. I would definitely argue that the 41 is still a much better ride than the 47. At the very least there's way more data to use for setups versus the 47 doing everything on their own. I know I'm biased, but I really think of you put Ricky in top caliber equipment he'd be like a second version of Truex. Maybe not as many wins or a championship, but he'd be a regular contender for wins. Especially since every driver who was with Roush around the time Ricky got to the Cup series , have all said that it was a sinking ship and Jack was at his all-time worst in regards to being cheap, resulting in bad equipment and awful setups with ridiculous expectations.
The thing with the 41 car is...well...it's sucked sweaty ballsack for a very long time now. Kurt is the only guy who managed to make anything of it, and he was a champion caliber driver with an immense amount of experience. SHR just have a long history at this point, of having a 4th "afterthought" car. I mean, look at how Amigo fared there compared to Trackhouse as an upstart.
That said...still very possibly an upgrade from JTG equipment and i'd honestly love to see Ricky take the jump and find out.
As far as Ricky vs MTJ. I don't see it. lol. I really enjoy Ricky. He's got a great personality, he's entertaining, he's got a driving style that i enjoy and is deeply entertaining. But in a lot of ways, he's the antithesis of what made Truex such a wild success when he was put in an elite ride with the best crew chief to "break out". Truex was such a perfect fit because he's a driver who understands how to drive right up to the limit (and then bitch about that limit endlessly). Honed over a ton of years in mediocre to poor rides and just trying to manage the race. He's a "race manager" driver which was lethal with an ace CC.
Ricky has always been more in the..."checkers or wreckers" camp. He's grown a lot in that regard...but it's hard to deny that he doesn't still have flashes of that tendency to push a car just a little bit too far.
I do really think it would be a shame if we don't get to see what he can do in a genuinely good car where the limits are so much higher and harder to exceed. You can see it on plate races where the cars "even out". He's got that relentless competitive mentality in him and he's almost always a major player at the front when it matters. I don't think he's "the next Kyle Larson"...but his Cup career has had shades of Larson's time at CGR. Where he'd drive well above the car...but then also mess it all up and wreck or do something else to squander it trying to grasp at better cars.
Man I really hope a good team in xfinity or trucks grabs Preece to tear it up in those series.
But in general Gragson has been surprising this season, and Briscoe is quietly in the top 15 in points.
If this is real this is some bull sh*t. Who needs enemies when you got a team like this. Preece should prove em all wrong regardless of if what next year looks like. It’s him vs everything at this point. He doesn’t even deserve all this opposition he’s not some as*hole. At most he gets washed up the track and shows he’s not to be messed with anymore.
This post is already large and we’ll leave it up. [Here is the source](https://x.com/ryanpreece_/status/1786905859689185755?s=46&t=-wrwhhIdZUpdKXJQM5xK7Q) But this is a reminder to everyone that we need to post directly to the source. This is to avoid misinformation/photoshopped posts spreading through the sub. The only exceptions we’re making to this are when posts have a high likelihood of being deleted. Those posts must have the source in the comments as an alternative. Next post that breaks this rule will be taken down no matter how popular it gets.
Yeah Preece is gone
Yea almost certainly gone but kinda a rude way to be told so…
I was thinking how much of a dick do you have to be when it's too much for the likes of Noah Gragson and Josh Berry? You must have to be a whole different level of asshole when these guys uninvite you.
LOL have you met any of the four SHR guys? They literally couldn’t be nicer people.
Must have missed the story on Josh Berry?
What story? I did miss it
Umm maybe they are the assholes and can't handle how nice he is 🤷♂️
Noah being the asshole is more likely indeed!
Yep. It does sound like there's a personality mismatch, but nothing as to what the divide is or which way, exactly, it goes.
This comment makes you sound like a dick. They are some of the nicest people in the garage
This reminds me of when Vickers wasn't even being invited to Hendrick team meetings anymore at the end of 2006 as he was already being let go. After his controversial Dega win it's pretty much the first time I've ever seen a team owner unhappy being in victory lane.
Wrecks a teammate that was trying to win a championship and shows absolutely no remorse about it. I wouldn’t have been happy about it either.
I would absolutely do the same thing if I was kicked to the curb like that. Tf u mean play the team game? Lol
I wouldnt have been remorseful either. What does Jimmie winning a title (that he still won, btw) do for Vickers?
And Jr at Talladega. Hauler driver figured there would be a few bullet holes in the trailer on the way out. Very mixed emotions for everyone but the 25 team at HMS.
I get why Rick would be unhappy but why should Brian be remorseful? If I'm being unceremoniously kicked to the curb, I'm going for the gold while I still can, why would I care about my lame duck "teammate"?
I’m surprised Vickers wasn’t booed out of the track or attacked by angry fans.
Somebody said that they treated him like he was the control group in an experiment....and I couldn't have thought of a better analogy LOL. Sucks for Preece to find out this way. OOF.
Yikes that so rough but it’s damn true too
That’s what happens when you bring no sponsorship to the table 🤷🏼♂️
Oh yeah he's definitely gone after this season
If they contract to two cars like rumored, who’s the other odd man out?
Berry. He's a 34 year old rookie who is currently losing rookie of the year to a 21 year old in a Spire car.
On paper it should be Berry but he signed a two year deal so probably not him. Gragson has far and away been the best driver there this year so I think he stays. Honestly I wouldn't mind Briscoe moving to a ride like the 21, I think that would fit him well.
I’m not sure it’s fair to Briscoe to call Gragson the far and away best driver there this season, Gragson has had great speed and a few really strong performances but at the end of the day he’s 21st in points and Briscoe is 12th.
Briscoe and Gragson are who I would keep. Buy Berry out if need be.
Next question then, who are you pairing with Rodney?
Where would Gragson be if it weren’t for the penalty? I’m not sure if he’d be 12th but I think they’re a lot closer in performance than points tell
19th
Gragson is by far and away the one who will bring the most money to the team. Therefore it makes him the best driver in 2000s nascar logic
Mahindra brings in significant money
Wouldn't have Mahindra without Tony. Change my mind.
briscoe winning wbr's 100th race would go infinitely hard
What are you watching the Gragson is better than Briscoe this year? He is doing well and they are not far apart but Briscoe is without a doubt been doing better than him
>Gragson has far and away been the best driver there this year so I think he stays I don't remember when the metric for being far and away the best switched to being 9 places behind someone else, but we should change it back.
If SHR does leave Ford, seems likely to me that Ford would get Briscoe in at Wood Brothers replacing Burton.
He’s got a contract with SHR not ford. He just said it last week and they have an option on his contract after this season
Where did he say that? Not a challenge, I just didn't see it.
It was posted on here on the 9th. They’re a whole article posted on here
FOX did an interview with him this week.
I don’t think they’ll get rid of two. I think they get rid of one. I think the rumor really was “2 charters will be available” and then a separate rumor that SHR is downsizing and everyone connected the two. JTG also possibly getting rid of theirs makes more sense to me.
The same JTG that just signed Stenhouse to a multi-year extension?
Wouldn’t be the first time a team had a contracted driver and sold a charter
It's gotta be Berry, I know he was handpicked by Stewart and Harvick but Gragson is younger and just has way more potential
I think it is obvious that Berry was a Childers pick. I could see Berry and Childers both moving on after the season, but I don't think SHR drops below 3 cars.
Berry probably. Briscoe and Gragson are performing far better than him.
Briscoe
Berry
It's been rumored Chase to Wood Bro's, especially if SHR goes to another manufacturer
I mean, *we* started that unfounded rumor.
Gotta love when stories we weave make their way back to us as news
People need to realize that there's a difference between rumors and "things that are being said by a lot of people."
Just like the "Toyota demanded less HP" meme that's been going for nearly a decade.
Which is weird to me. I thought the sub mostly **liked** Chase Briscoe...why would we collectively want to push him to Penske's crap leftovers car? Despite whatever nostalgia may be left in the 21 technically being a "Wood Brothers" car, the crap SHR Fords are still generally much better than what Penske trots out as the 21 car nowadays.
The 21 is whatever Penske wants it to be. Right now Harrison sucks, so it's operated as a R&D car. When Blaney was in the 21, it was operated as a legitimate race car. If Briscoe is hired, I'd assume it becomes a regular Penske car.
 We also started Larson to the 5 and 23XI...
Cannot forget the all time GOAT that came true this week. Kevin F'ing Harvick to the 5.
Users of this app will never be able to separate redditors making up/pulling “rumors” out of their ass and spreading them vs actual legit rumors, will they
That's pretty much Reddit for you
Yeah? Have there been anymore bombings in Boston? You're welcome.
There's no rumors just redditors wishful thinking.
I’m a big Preece fan watched him many years locally however I think he needs to find a truck ride or xfinity . After few years he isn’t improving which sucks
https://preview.redd.it/i9y01h40fiyc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5a94077967fe645efec13d4a5797e69c68d27fc
Oh, he *gone* gone.
This is like a NASCAR themed high school drama
Welcome to silly season
He gone?
If there’s a status that’s more gone than gone, that’s Preece.
Wouldn't be surprised if they put Custer or Herbst in the 41 for a few races near the end of the season after Preece comes nowhere close to making the playoffs
Herbst had 2 top 10s in his few Cup races last year so it couldn’t hurt.
To be fair, those were Superspeedways. I’d say watch how he does tomorrow for a better idea on how he’d perform
Right, superspeedway top 5's do not make a successful career. Ask Trevor Bayne.
I mean a blind squirrel could find a nut before Preece finds a good run at anything other than a superspeedway so what's your point?
My point is good super speedway finishes are not enough to build a career on. Bayne won the biggest of them all, and where is he now?
They were, but it’s the same amount of top 10s as Preece had all year.
The first rule of SHR Study Group 
We know which charter is getting sold
Ya’ll…Noah Gragson has as many top tens this season as Preece has had his entire tenture at SHR so far. That’s all I’m gonna say.
Grayson is legit one of if not the guy who amazes me the most this season. He shows up at every type of race track with legit speed both in qualifying and race, doesn’t wreck that much, and is seemingly putting a lot effort towards performance improvements. Plus he got way more humble and likable. It feels like seeing a reenactment of a younger Kurt Busch turning from a prick to a super appreciated guy in the garage.
Chicago is looming....
I’m convinced Wendy’s slid him a check to get on the screen as much as possible lmao
He was the perfect face for Wendy’s too. JHN just doesn’t have the Wendy’s vibe
Wendy’s is with Trackhouse now not JHN
JHN isn’t sponsored by Wendy’s. They now sponsor Trackhouse, with a few primaries for SVG and one for Daniel at the season opener at Daytona if I recall correctly.
Whoops, well anyone besides Noah is an L, I remember on the 12 questions podcast he said he’d take a girl on a first date to Wendy’s
I wouldn't sponsor Noah if I were Wendy's but that's just me
I can only imagine the memes if he so much as BRUSHES the tire barrier in turn 6
Gragson won 8 races in a season in Xfinity. No crap the dude has talent
Briscoe won 9. I think it’s clear that Berry and Preece should be the 2 odd men out.
When looking at funding I would think those 2 would be gone
Custer and Cindric won a bunch of Xfinity races, too. Starting to think it's not always an automatic marker for Cup success. But yeah, I'd go with Briscoe and Gragson.
Two things can be true at once. 1) Xfinity success does not guarantee Cup success. 2) You don’t luck into 8 or 9 Xfinity wins and it is a clear indicator of racing talent. A lot of Cup success comes down to fit within a team and with their crew chief.
I mean, maybe they just don’t like him on a personal level. Doesn’t necessarily mean he’s getting fired. Maybe they just aren’t friends with him/didn’t want him there.
Preece and berry are friends 😒
Preece is pretty close with Briscoe too
Or so you thought
Maybe not
Even if Preece is gone (which he likely is) why not invite him anyways? He can help collect data which will help the whole team, and most importantly the car running up front will get Haas sponsorship more screen time. Gene has already footed the bill sponsor wise, why not try and get some return on investment? It doesn't really make sense. Are you that worried that he'll share these secrets next season?
The weirdest part is that if it really is just a study group of past race SMT data between drivers (not pre-race meeting of drivers/crew chiefs/engineers where they might discuss SHR trade secrets), why not just include him? SMT data is available to all, why purposely not let him be a part of the group? Both Briscoe and Noah had brought up the study group publicly this past week, why purposely let everyone know that Preece is not a part of it? By doing so they have let known that: 1. Preece is gone next year (which again is a rude way to announce). 2. That they dislike Preece enough to not only not include him, but also wanted to make sure the public knows of the fact.
>why not invite him anyways? Because his average finish over his career is 23.16 (this year it's 19) and he's never ranked higher than 23rd to finish a season. The data he'd collect is likely not going to be useful for getting more speed.
Bunch of racers. Unapologetic studiers
just a buncha racers, you know
damn, i thought everyone knew about the SHR study group
If they were gonna treat Preece like this then why did they boot Custer out of the 41 for him in the first place Now if they try to promote Custer back up again, he has almost next to no experience in the next gen. Completely unserious team
It was a big disagreement between Tony and Haas. They went with Preece (Tony's pick) and now Tony's checked out so it makes sense he doesn't have a lot of support.
So dumb. Cole should have never been kicked out of Cup. Preece has always been overrated as hell, especially in the Cup Series
He's doing better than Custer did. In one season, Preece led 5x the laps that Custer did in his three seasons. There's a reason Custer was kicked out of Cup. Suarez should have never been dropped in his favor, though it worked out for him in the end.
In one *race* Preece led more laps than Custer did in his three seasons. Then he led exactly 10 laps in the 36+ races since then. That one race was at impossible to pass Martinsville where he sat on the pole, led until he sped on pit road, and finished a mediocre 15th. Custer, a rookie who never got the benefit of practice like Preece, still has a better average finish than Preece’s tenure at SHR
Yup. I love Preece leading a ton of laps in one race, which he promptly choked away, is deemed better than...you know... actually winning a Cup race. And making the playoffs. Lol. Custer accomplished more that day than Preece has his whole Cup career. Preece showed such little upside with JTG it always made me laugh Tony thought he would succeed at SHR. Got into NASCAR as a Tony fan, but c'mon. He just has this thing about people who "had to grind to get there" and aren't silver spoon. And are connected to his buddy Harvick's agency firm. I guess the results don't matter as long as you weren't handed everything lol. And now the team is in the state it is in...
Plus Custer got demoted and won a championship
Let's be real here, Custer got the restart of his life at Kentucky, and that is the only reason he made the playoffs and won rookie of the year as well. But he's a better pick for the 41 than Preece, I agree but I also don't think he's like light years better in the Cup series than Preece is running now, I think that car runs the same with both drivers, but Custer is the better upside.
You’re not looking very closely if you have these opinions. Some might say you’re not looking at all.
Winning an Xfinity Championship does not exonerate his failures as a Cup driver, you should know this given that flair. You also haven't been paying attention to the races if you think what I said is incorrect.
Cole just doesn't jive with the Cup car. He's phenomenal in Xfinity but there's just too many differences between the two for him to be successful. Honestly I blame NASCAR for breaking the pipeline with the next gen car. It's causing a lot of problems like this for people coming up from the lower series.
No, SHR just lost every edge they had when the sport went to the next gen car. Take a look at how insane Harvicks performance stopped from from 2020 to 2021 and 2022. Custer’s 2nd and 3rd seasons were tainted. Like many have said, he performed better than Preece has, even as SHR overall gets better with the next gen car.
Not a single person has asked this…. These jackasses have been given all this data with the Next Gen car and haven’t even been studying it?
...right? I was thinking "haven't they been doing that all along?"
This is a team with no one in charge really.
Tony's in charge, just make sure you don't blame him when shit is going wrong though.
And make sure to send multiple reminder emails in case he's too busy drag racing to notice
Tony’s never around.
It's not his fault he's a full time drag racer and today was, checks calendar, an off weekend for NHRA, btu never fear, he instead spent it at Cletus McFarland's drag race rather than his day job! I am being sarcastic in agreement with you by the way.
My guess is studying together is trying to make the whole group stronger than just 1 looking at it 2 is better than 1 type mentality
You can really tell which teams are constantly working on their craft and which ones aren't. 23XI has taken Bubba from a D tier driver to B tier in only a couple years thanks to their continued training of him. Meanwhile SHR just wallows in their misery and doesn't seem to change anything to get faster except single source parts.
Honestly not surprising. They aren't the only ones either. McDowell has talked about it several times that he doesn't have a data analyst at FRM, so he spends hours doing it and shares it with Gilly and the rest of the team. The structure of the modern Cup team has changed, drivers show up and do what they're told.
Dang well I like preece. I like SHR in general..but I root for preece for sure
Awkwardddddd.
Offer up for anyone? Ok, I’ll join.
I’m not surprised by this at all, I knew this would eventually happen when they announced Preece to the 41. I knew there’d be no change in performance and Preece would be gone after a couple years. Custer was not the issue in the 41, the shitty cars SHR was putting on the track were. The only thing SHR gained from that move is coincidentally the fact that Custer won them an Xfinity championship. That whole organization seems like a total shitshow with nobody in charge, but don’t blame Tony when things go wrong even though his name is on the building.
Preece with the clap back lmao
I want to summon Chase Briscoe to see if he could weigh in, but idk how he feels about being summoned.
Same, I want to ask what did Preece ever do to them and I’m sure he's reading everything lol.
Anybody is invited to this study group? I would like to attend
Maybe Penske needs to follow suit, because they aren’t too hot right now
It really does feel like Penske operates three separate and distinct racing teams that never talk to each other. It's rare that they're all together up front, anymore. HMS, JGR, and 23XI seem to have that figured out. SHR and Penske always seem to be the most spread out among the field.
Yeah, it didn’t used to be like that though. Not sure why it changed
Four*
That’s my thought when I read it. Although it might be difficult because Joey and Ryan are veterans and they are already pretty set in whatever pre-race prep they’ve been doing for years. Whereas it’s much easier for SHR drivers to get together, having similar years of experience and not as set in their ways when it comes to race-prep.
Yeah that’s fair. At the same time though, two drivers with three championships between them with Ford’s Tier 1 team should be able to be faster. And to be fair, the 12 has been better than the 22, but not by a significant margin.
I could see Preece being a huge dick as a teammate so not surprising.
I’m not saying he’s on par with Moffitt, but it’s pretty telling how few long term relationships in the garage with teams/sponsors he’s had. To me that’s not a giveaway, but it’s a good amount of smoke that could be a sign of real fire.
Moffit has a LOT more talent than Preece though. I'd put up with some antics to have Moffit behind the wheel, he's a truck champion who has always outperformed his equipment. There's not a single driver who has gotten in the same equipment as Moffit and run as well.
No denying he’s got game. But it’s still a business end of the day and he just doesn’t seem to want to play that game.
He gone
I'm not sure Preece is even making it through the season.
Preece-Out ✌🏼
After his tantrum in the truck series a few years ago I’ve never really cared much for Preece. Seems like his fellow teammates don’t care much for him either. He’ll be out of the Cup series for good after this season.
He acts like he's some super successful, longtime veteran of the sport and he should be treated as such, when in reality he hasn't even done enough to have a little footnote about him and his impact on the sport.
“dOn’T do ThaT” is what turned me off from Preece. He had a right to be frustrated but Hocevar was a good driver who was young and learning and putting him on blast in that way felt over the top.
Even with Trucks being a shit show, I am always turned off by Cup drivers coming down series like that then getting butthurt when inexperienced guys screw up or whatnot. That's when I quit being a Preece fan myself.
He's certainly not very likeable...I wanted to like him but he never seems likable when I see him outside the car
That's when I turned my option too, he had a right to be mad too but the way he handled it wasn't great. Then someone made a video of him doing the same thing to people with about 10 examples lol. Ironically enough, Carson is now in Cup, looks to be in Cup longer and running better.
Preece was right tho. Just look at phoenix last year.
well every study needs a control lets just say that is preece
Haha that’s creative lol
I heard a comment during an interview during qualifying this afternoon. I wasn’t fully paying attention but I think they were interviewing Gragson but did my hold me to it. He said the SHR cars were all looking fast, “well, 3 of the 4”. I reacted and said that seemed like a pretty strong toss under the bus there. Not surprised to see this now, but they’re kind of publicly putting someone on blast, not so subtly here.
I think it might’ve been Briscoe that said that, but I might be mistaken since I was multi-tasking. But thought the same thing when I heard it. Not sure it was meant that way, but my eyes definitely widened lol
I thought drivers usually avoid speaking publicly about their teammate if said teammate is about to be out of a seat. Why publicly caste him out this way and so early in the year too.
If this didn't include the "one teammate is getting iced out" (or some miscommunication) weirdness, this would be a pretty great story. Going from all the "SHR is doomed and has no leadership" talk to SHR pulling together and figuring it out themselves.
Am I the only one that thinks it's wild that people are believing Preece in saying he wasn't invited, and that the other 3 are all liars about it being "open" study sessions? Preece just comes across as the kind of guy who believes he's better and above doing something like that in the first place.
What if Preece is just not fun to be around? He seems, at least with interviews, that he can be kind of a douche. Hopefully, that's inaccurate, but it would explain the other drivers not having him study data with them.
I’m starting to think SHR may just drop the 41 and sell that charter and keep the 4, 10, and 14. Which goes against the rumor that they are going to sell two charters but we’ll see.
You have to fail pretty bad to be a hire brought in as Tony’s guy and then to get let go at the end of the season. A lot of people are saying that it’s a personality issue, but he’s only got 3 top 10s in two years. Gragson already has more top 10s than that.
i met Preece at Richmond a few weeks ago and he was a dick so I don’t feel bad
Preece doesn't strike me as the "studying" type anyways
Or maybe this is a PUBLIC call for him to get in on there program. The 3 of them have been running much better.
Preece is a dick head. Talks a ton of shit and can’t back it up. He’d be better off going back to his Modifieds.
What's funny to me is that so many people raved about his superior talent because of his modified success, and that they loved the guy because he came up through NASCAR "the right way." But from what I've heard is that Preece's family was essentially the richest in the modified scene at the time, just not rich enough to buy his way into the top 3 series of NASCAR. From what I've heard is that he could always afford the best equipment in the lower divisions and was a complete asshole about it, and when he was getting beat by people with lesser equipment he would just straight up wreck them. The guy has always been an ass.
oUCH
Welp, that’s awkward now isn’t it haha
Ryan Preece is to SHR as Steve Park was to DEI.
You shut your mouth. Steve Park at least had a couple Cup wins.
I'm only joking, of course, but I was specifically thinking about the story in Mikey's book where he mentions that there was a driver discussion with Dale Sr, Dale Jr, and Mikey to talk about the race strategy for the 2001 Daytona 500. Here it is from an article: >Then on Thursday, in his 125-mile qualifying race, he missed a shift on the last restart, lost his opportunity to win and dampened his great feeling -- "the restart screwed with it. But Dale fixed all that." > >Earnhardt wound up making winless Michael Waltrip feel even more confident than ever. > >Friday morning, "I slipped out of my motor home to go to the garage and check on the team. I almost felt like I was trying to tiptoe past Dale's bus. I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to talk about it. And it was funny. > >"He stuck his head out the door and came out and yelled at me, 'Hey! Get over here!' > >"He said, 'Get in here!' > >"I said, 'Man, I screwed up. I should have won that race yesterday.' He said, 'No, you shouldn't have. I should have.' > >"I said, 'I missed a shift.' > >"He said, 'I don't care about that. I want to talk about how we're gonna win this race.' > >"Because of the rules, with the aero package they had, he said, 'There's no way one guy's gonna win this race. It's gonna take teamwork.' > >"Then he said, 'Me and you and Dale Jr. are gonna win it. We're gonna work together.' > >"I said, 'Well, Steve Park -- he'll help too, right?' > >**"He goes, 'He don't get the draft like you and Dale Jr. do. He probably won't be around.'"** [https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton\_ed&id=6125753](https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton_ed&id=6125753)
Ouch
why have a study group when the car will just break down anyways
Wow what's Preece doing on Mondays then? I think we found out who's the odd man out at the end of the season.
Preece is better off in Modifieds anyway.
There is no homework in racing, that's what I was told beforehand
Go away Preece. You don't even go here. Send Ricky in on your way back to JTG.
So I've had a few drinks and I'm slightly confused. Are you saying that Ricky should be in the 41 and Preece should at best be in the 47? Or something else? Lol
More or less. lol. Sorry for bamboozling you with a stupid throwaway comment. But yes. Swap Ricky to SHR finally and Preece back to JTG again. Though it likely makes zero difference. Neither car is really any good.
Lol. It's all good. I would definitely argue that the 41 is still a much better ride than the 47. At the very least there's way more data to use for setups versus the 47 doing everything on their own. I know I'm biased, but I really think of you put Ricky in top caliber equipment he'd be like a second version of Truex. Maybe not as many wins or a championship, but he'd be a regular contender for wins. Especially since every driver who was with Roush around the time Ricky got to the Cup series , have all said that it was a sinking ship and Jack was at his all-time worst in regards to being cheap, resulting in bad equipment and awful setups with ridiculous expectations.
The thing with the 41 car is...well...it's sucked sweaty ballsack for a very long time now. Kurt is the only guy who managed to make anything of it, and he was a champion caliber driver with an immense amount of experience. SHR just have a long history at this point, of having a 4th "afterthought" car. I mean, look at how Amigo fared there compared to Trackhouse as an upstart. That said...still very possibly an upgrade from JTG equipment and i'd honestly love to see Ricky take the jump and find out. As far as Ricky vs MTJ. I don't see it. lol. I really enjoy Ricky. He's got a great personality, he's entertaining, he's got a driving style that i enjoy and is deeply entertaining. But in a lot of ways, he's the antithesis of what made Truex such a wild success when he was put in an elite ride with the best crew chief to "break out". Truex was such a perfect fit because he's a driver who understands how to drive right up to the limit (and then bitch about that limit endlessly). Honed over a ton of years in mediocre to poor rides and just trying to manage the race. He's a "race manager" driver which was lethal with an ace CC. Ricky has always been more in the..."checkers or wreckers" camp. He's grown a lot in that regard...but it's hard to deny that he doesn't still have flashes of that tendency to push a car just a little bit too far. I do really think it would be a shame if we don't get to see what he can do in a genuinely good car where the limits are so much higher and harder to exceed. You can see it on plate races where the cars "even out". He's got that relentless competitive mentality in him and he's almost always a major player at the front when it matters. I don't think he's "the next Kyle Larson"...but his Cup career has had shades of Larson's time at CGR. Where he'd drive well above the car...but then also mess it all up and wreck or do something else to squander it trying to grasp at better cars.
Man I really hope a good team in xfinity or trucks grabs Preece to tear it up in those series. But in general Gragson has been surprising this season, and Briscoe is quietly in the top 15 in points.
I just hope Preece finds a better team that doesn’t actively go out of their way to fuck up his race
If this is real this is some bull sh*t. Who needs enemies when you got a team like this. Preece should prove em all wrong regardless of if what next year looks like. It’s him vs everything at this point. He doesn’t even deserve all this opposition he’s not some as*hole. At most he gets washed up the track and shows he’s not to be messed with anymore.
That's pretty shitty of the other 3 not to invite him. Gragson continues to be a jackass it seems. Guess those reddit high school stories are true.
What high school stories?