“It comes naturally”: Ryan Preece weighs in on Christopher Bell’s three wins in a row

Ryan Preece, the RFK driver, weighed in on his friend, Christopher Bell’s third consecutive win in the 2025 Cup Series. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Circuit of The Americas, and lately, Phoenix Raceway.

Preece, currently driving the #60 Ford for Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing, began his career in NASCAR with JTG Daugherty Racing in 2019. He moved on to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2022 but had to move to RFK after SHR announced its closure at the end of the 2024 season. Before his debut in the Cup series, Preece was signed by Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series.

Preece spoke on his Joe Gibbs Racing rival but a close friend, Christopher Bell after his third consecutive win in the 2025 Cup Series. He said he texts the 30-year-old JGR driver after every win and jokingly remarked that he might need to put an auto-texting feature for every race this season, complimenting Bell’s consistency. Preece said while responding to a question at a presser:

"Yeah, I joked with Christopher just because we were teammates at Gibbs, so I've always sent him text messages when he wins. This Monday, after the third one in a row, I told him that I basically felt like I need to put my phone on auto text on Monday mornings," said Preece.

The 34-year-old spoke on what it takes for Bell to be so consistent in this season. For him, the “groove within” the team helps in getting over the hurdle of winning the first race, and the rest becomes easier as there is a “weight lifted off” the shoulders.

"What I would say about that is sometimes when you just get in that groove within your team and you're working together and all those things, it just comes naturally, it comes easy. It's trying to get over that hump to try and get that first one or that second one or whatever it is. It just seems like it's the hardest mountain to climb and once you do it, it's just like a weight lifted off your shoulders," he added.

In the race at Phoenix, Preece and his team made a strategic decision to use the option tires early in the race leading to Preece showing his driving prowess and climbing up the spots in the race but a collision derailed his progress.

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Ryan Preece delivered his verdict after an ‘exciting’ option tire strategy at Phoenix

Ryan Preece described the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway as an "exciting" race due to the use of option tires. Preece mentioned that the tire strategy reminded him of his early days in racing, particularly the Snowball Derby, where tire management and strategic choices are crucial. To SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he said:

"You know, for a lot of guys that have been racing at the national level for a while now, it's really different. But, you know, for me, it reminded me of when we went to the snowball derby or, you know, if you're racing out of short track with only allotted so many tires and you got to, you know, pick and choose, you know, take your lumps," said Preece.

"I saw Joey [Logano] took advantage of his reds and, you know, a few other people, it just created different strategies. And I think with all the cautions and how they played out, you know, my opinion, it was an exciting race," he concluded.

Preece, who started 28th, finished 15th after using the strategic advantage offered by the tires. For only the second time in NASCAR history, teams had the choice between two tire compounds, with the option tire (marked in red) providing better grip and speed but wearing out faster than the standard tire.