Ryan Preece will serve as a reserve driver for Stewart-Haas Racing during the 2022 season.
Preece, 31, will do simulator work and compete in races across NASCAR’s top three series. SHR will also use Preece to fill in should any of its drivers miss an event at the Cup level.
“Ryan is a versatile wheelman with a racer‘s mentality who fits extremely well within our culture at Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition, SHR. “Between the amount of testing and development work we‘re doing with the Next Gen car this year, his added insights and time in the simulator will make us better by allowing us to learn faster.
“Plus, we‘re still dealing with COVID. As much as we all want it to be over, it‘s not. We needed a more robust plan in the event COVID sidelines one of our drivers. We have that now with Ryan.”
Currently Preece is scheduled to compete in 12 events across the Cup, Xfinity, and Camping World Truck Series. While the Cup and Xfinity races will be run with SHR and its partners, the truck starts will take place at David Gilliland Racing.
“This is a unique setup, but I feel like it provides me with the best opportunity to win races and contribute to a championship-caliber team while expanding my racing experience,” said Preece in a release. “I‘m a racer, and Stewart-Haas Racing is a team built by racers. They measure success by wins. Whether I‘m in the simulator, in one of their cars, or in a Ford Mustang or Ford F-150 for another team, I‘m here to help SHR and Ford win.”
Preece‘s two Cup Series races will be May 1 at Dover Motor Speedway and May 29 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His three Xfinity Series races will be April 2 at Richmond Raceway, May 28 at Charlotte and June 25 at Nashville Superspeedway. Preece has seven Truck Series races scheduled which are March 4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, March 19 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, May 6 at Darlington Raceway, May 20 at Texas Motor Speedway, June 24 at Nashville, July 23 at Pocono Raceway and Sept. 9 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
