“Save fuel”: Ryan Preece’s crew chief on their strategy at the Talladega Cup Series playoff race

With fuel saving being the go-to strategy at the Talladega Superspeedway, Ryan Preece was told on the radio not to go full throttle and manage his fuel. Preece, along with the rest of the field, followed the fuel mileage strategy amid opposition from the drivers themselves.

Ryan Preece is a 33-year-old NASCAR Cup Series driver for Stewart-Haas Racing. He qualified 18th for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway ahead of his teammates, including playoff driver Chase Briscoe who started in P36.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post by Frontstretch’s Tom Bowles, Preece was asked to slow down to save fuel but not to the extent of costing a position.

“Save fuel and try not to give up any spots doing that. Right now, we're a lap and a half short,” the No. 41 SHR camp radioed.

In preparation for the superspeedway race, Ryan Preece, who pilots the No. 41 SHR Ford Mustang Dark Horse, watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006). His Mustang ran with a Wonder Bread livery similar to the No. 26 car Ricky Bobby (played by Will Ferrell) drove in the movie.

The Connecticut native has yet to score his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series. This season, the driver has one top-5 at Nashville Superspeedway by coming home 4th. He also has four top-10s, recorded at Martinsville, Nashville, Watkins Glen, and Bristol.

Ryan Preece will leave SHR at the end of the season following the team’s exit from the sport. His seat for the 2025 season has yet to be announced, albeit the driver is a favorite to secure the rumored third seat at RFK Racing.

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Ryan Preece and the drivers’ fuel saving strategy was slammed by Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin

Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin weighed in on the controversial topic of fuel saving at Talladega Superspeedway. Blaney believes no driver likes the strategy and the race just turned into a “gas game.”

In a pre-race interview, the No. 12 Team Penske driver said:

“It’s kind of just turned into a gas game... I think it’s just gotten this way mainly because it’s hard to make up spots anymore. This car is so draggy that the third lane, especially here, Daytona is better because it’s more handling, but here handling is not a big thing so the third lane just kind of hurts.”

Blaney, who is the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, added:

“The bottom lane isn’t lifting like you have at turn four of Daytona to where the top can kind of get rolling late in a run. I feel like you’ve got to take drag off of these cars at these places to just where handling becomes a little bit more of an issue.”

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin spoke about being frustrated with running half-throttle at The Brickyard. He also talked about the “weird fuel window” where drivers are short of fuel and should save when the caution comes out.

While the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver wishes NASCAR would do something about it, he said the strategy could work in a driver’s favor.