Preece & Buescher Net Top 10s In Miami; Climb In Points

Chris Buescher (17) battles Ryan Preece Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of RFK Racing)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher both delivered strong performances Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, securing the first dual top-10 result for RFK Racing this season.

Driving the No. 17 Kroger/Farm Rich Ford Mustang, Buescher finished sixth after a hard-fought battle inside the top 10 for much of the afternoon. Preece, piloting the No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang, came home ninth for his second consecutive top-10 finish.

The result moved Preece into 16th place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, while Buescher advanced to a tie for eighth, as both drivers look to build momentum in the early stages of the regular season.

“We used this Kroger/Farm Rich Ford Mustang up today, but it was a pretty fun day,” Buescher said post-race. “We made some progress on it, but we still have some tweaks to be better. The team made some good adjustments, and we had a strong restart.

“I wish we could’ve gotten one more spot there at the end — we were faster than the 11 (Denny Hamlin), but just couldn’t get the lane we needed to make a move.”

Buescher’s afternoon didn’t net any stage points, but he did get as high as fourth in the running order at one point and spent more than 80 percent of the race inside the top 15 en route to his fifth top 10 in six races to open the season.

Preece also left Homestead with confidence after another consistent showing. He qualified 31st and was buried deep in the field at the start, but clawed his way to 15th by halfway.

Ryan Preece (left) talks with Chris Buescher at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo Courtesy of RFK Racing)

Despite losing track position due to adjustments mid-race, he and his team rallied by breaking into the top five during the final stage, securing a strong finish and successfully backing up their third-place run from Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway a week earlier.

“I felt like it went pretty well,” Preece said of his Homestead run. “We made an adjustment there and lost a bunch of track position, but we were definitely pretty happy with how the car was and put it back to where it was and drove forward.

“This is something I’m proud of, and if we can just keep consistently doing this, we’ll be good.”

Perhaps most notable, Preece now owns the final playoff spot six races into the regular season, tied with John Hunter Nemechek and future Hall of Famer Kyle Busch in the standings thus far.

The solid day for both drivers reflects continued improvement for the Ford camp as the season has progressed. Buescher will look to move toward the top five in points next weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Preece looks to enter the top 15 at his favorite track.

Though Preece only has one top 10 at Martinsville, it came in last spring’s 400-lap race there, and he also has a pole from 2023 at the ‘Paper Clip’. Buescher has two top 10s in 19 Martinsville starts, but RFK co-owner Brad Keselowski is a two-time Martinsville winner, which should give the team added confidence.

Broadcast coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville is scheduled for Sunday March 30, at 3 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.