Preece fumes over car fire he calls ‘completely unnecessary’

Ryan Preece was clearly unhappy about the fire that broke out inside his car and ended his race early at Dover Motor Speedway.

Preece’s No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse developed smoke inside the cockpit before the race was 30 laps old. The team initially thought it was rubber buildup that was burning in the rocker -- an issue that Preece’s teammate, Chase Briscoe, dealt with Saturday.

The team worked over the car under the lap 39 caution before Preece returned to the race. But he had to pit again because the smoke was so bad. It still wasn’t good enough to fix the issue, and the car eventually went to the garage, where the team determined their race was over.

“I felt like I was on fire, and I went the first 70 laps just trying to push through and then it got so bad that I couldn’t put my hands on the wheel,” Preece said. “I was worried that an oil line or something would melt, and then the whole car gets engulfed in fire and I don’t want to be trapped in there having that happen, so I pulled off. Whatever happened, it was completely unnecessary, and we can’t afford days like this.”

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Preece didn’t go into specifics as to what caught on fire. The early speculation from the team was that it was rubber, and before going to the garage, it was thought to be the foam inside the door.

“I’m not going to be the one to say what happened, but it wasn’t necessary,” Preece said. “It could have been prevented.”

Preece was the first driver to exit the Wurth 400. He will finish 37th.