NASCAR Silly Season: Ryan Preece confronts sponsorship challenges, future uncertain amid SHR exit

Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Preece discussed his uncertain future. He revealed that he is 'not sure' about his plans after this season.

SHR announced earlier this year that they will cease their Cup Series racing operations at the end of the 2024 season. While this surprised the entire team, three of their drivers managed to find themselves in a racing seat the next season. However, that is not the case with Ryan Preece. He is yet to strike a deal for the 2025 season.

Moreover, as he recently revealed speaking with FOX Sports, finding sponsors has been a little difficult for him. Talking about the future, he stated that he is unsure.

"One thing I've worked on, which has been the struggle throughout my career, is having sponsors," he said. "I'm lucky to have partners like United Rentals and Mohawk Northeast, RaceChoice and many others that have supported me, so I continue to try and do my best for them and work through that process. But as far as what I'm doing, I'm not really sure."

The 33-year-old further stated that finding the right speed with the car has been an issue that he has continued to face racing in the Cup Series. He mentioned that having pace can open an 'opportunity' for him:

"The biggest challenge in my career has been the timing of a lot of things with speed, and it's tough. A lot of us all talk about it — there's only so much, so many things you can do. You can't drive a slow car fast right now, and the biggest thing is trying to find speed and put that speed together. Because when you have speed, it just opens up that box and opportunity. So I'm not sure yet."

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Ryan Preece talks about his 2024 NASCAR playoffs ahead of the race at Daytona

Only two races remain this season before the start of the playoffs, and drivers like Ryan Preece, who is yet to win a race have only Daytona and Darlington to mark their entry into the playoffs. Talking about his situation, Preece said:

"With the situation that we're in right now, your best opportunity [to win] is going to be Daytona — and how you attack that race? You can attack it multiple ways. But one way is race for stage points, put yourself at risk of something happening early and taking you out of that race and taking away that opportunity to be there at the end. Or kind of hang around like we used to do way back and wait for that wreck."

Ryan Preece made his full-time Cup Series debut in the 2019 season. Although he has gathered 13 top-10 finishes, he has yet to win a race. However, the bigger issue for him right now is finding a seat for the 2025 season. He has been associated with a few teams, but it remains unclear if any of them will be signing him.