Preece still frustrated by appeal being upheld

Ryan Preece didn’t have much to say about his penalty appeal being denied earlier this week, yet he said a lot Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, clearly still frustrated.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Preece said. “The statement,” he said before trailing off.

Preece then appeared to be thinking about how he wanted to continue.

“It’s not my, uh,” he said slowly. “I’m, uh, extremely appreciative to be in this sport, and I don’t know.”

The driver of the No. 60 Ford for RFK Racing admitted to having a lot of thoughts but didn’t share them. Preece reiterated that he was looking forward to racing this weekend and that “it is what it is.”

Brad Keselowski, his co-owner, acknowledged that he felt for Preece and understood that he was frustrated. The appeal, heard May 27, stemmed from the 25-point and $50,000 fine Preece was hit with after the May 2 event in Texas. NASCAR deemed Preece intentionally wrecked Ty Gibbs and used his radio comments as their reasoning.

Keselowski was not in the room for the appeal but was given some blow-by-blow from those who were. He would not say the ruling set a bad precedent, but did suggest it was a bit confusing.

“I didn’t follow all the logic,” Keselowski said. “But I do follow the logic of when you say something over the radio, and then it happens, why NASCAR would be upset.”

The appeals panel, which NASCAR mandated a few years ago must offer a statement with their ruling, a move away from the lack of transparency that had long overshadowed the proceedings, admitted that neither NASCAR nor RFK Racing clearly made their point. Instead, the panel pointed to Preece having made clear he wasn’t going to cut a fellow competitor a break.

However, those comments had come not from inside the race car, as NASCAR based its penalty on, but to the media afterward in Texas. And it was a sentiment Preece shared with other media outlets in the days that followed, when asked about the incident.

“I think that statement [from the panel] was pretty powerful,” Preece said. “Read between the lines.”

Now that it’s all settled, even if not as Preece hoped, will it change what he says on the radio?

“I don’t know,” he said. “Here’s what I can tell you: it wouldn’t have taken $50,000 and a 25-point fine to adjust that. All it took was one conversation from Mr. Jack Roush, and I can promise you I wouldn’t hit that button. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.

“There were a lot of interviews on how drivers use their radios to vent; it’s kind of like going to a psychiatrist. I want to say there was a driver that talked about this - you aren’t just going to sit in front of a mirror and talk to yourself. You need somebody to hear it. But yeah, certainly won’t be hitting that button, I guess.”