Prank War Helped Buescher, Preece Find Levity in Race to the Chase

It took a walk-off win at Daytona International Speedway for Ryan Preece to make the NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Cup, but with Preece advancing to the championship fight, RFK Racing will now have two drivers battling it out in the 10-week mental marathon for the sport's ultimate prize.

Chris Buescher comes into the Chase as the No. 10 seed, while Preece locked up the 16th and final seed with the points he earned at Daytona.

While there were stressful days on the path to the Chase, and there will undoubtedly be more stressful days ahead for the pair of teammates in the 10 races remaining in the campaign, the duo has leaned heavily into a back-and-forth prank war to bring much-needed levity to their chase for a seed in NASCAR's Chase.

"I think that it's important to cut up and have a little bit of fun along the way," Buescher said to Racing America On SI at Wednesday's NASCAR Chase Media Day. "We talk about this sport and the fact that it's a very high-pressure environment. We have a lot on our shoulders. It's not [just] racing for you or your family; you're racing for 200-something employees back at the shop, and their families as well.

"You know, everything does matter. So, you have to have that focus and that drive to make every week the best we can possibly be. Does that mean you can't goof off a little bit and have fun along the way? Absolutely not. That's what we try to do, within reason, right?"

Pranks between the two drivers over the last couple of seasons have included doors being removed from rental cars, heavily saran-wrapped cars, cars being towed, and the pranks have somehow escalated in levels of severity each time.

The latest prank occurred in mid-July. Preece ordered a custom Ford Dually pickup truck, the perks of being a Ford Racing driver. However, little did Preece know that the truck would be delivered by Buescher, his teammate, who owed him for the last leg of their ongoing prank war.

As Preece was conducting an autograph signing at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Buescher rolled up on the scene in Preece's new ... custom ... pickup truck. It was a sight to behold.

The truck had eyelashes attached above the headlights, a slice of purple down the sides of the truck, complete with flowers and butterflies embedded in the design of the wrap.

Payback is a…. @RyanPreece_ 🦋🌸 pic.twitter.com/YHuIvIZuJy
— Chris Buescher (@Chris_Buescher) July 19, 2026

"It's not my truck, though," Preece said after seeing the truck Buescher arrived in.

Oh, but he was wrong. It was his in fact his truck.

Weeks later, as Buescher arrived at the Ford Simulator to prep for an upcoming race in early August, he was delighted to see that Preece was still piloting the customized dually, looking exactly as it was when he delivered it to him at North Wilkesboro.

My man riding in style to the Ford sim today! @RyanPreece_ 🦋🌼🤣 best looking dually on the road pic.twitter.com/pcKlgXyy8z
— Chris Buescher (@Chris_Buescher) August 5, 2026

After Preece's first career victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway last Saturday, the driver piloted the truck to the Dirty Mo Studio for his interview on the Dale Jr. Download. It took a lot of people by surprise that Preece was still utilizing the girlie wrap on his truck. Hell, it took Buescher by surprise as well, but Buescher explains that Preece hasn't altered the look of the truck, likely due to who Buescher hired to help him design the wrap.

"My hope was that he would be forced to do it. Being that we were able to get his daughter to help do the wrap, and apply probably a good majority of the flower power down the side, that she would have ownership of it. And if her dad tried to rip it off, it would just be a heartbreaking thing to do as a parent. So, he'd be forced into it. I guess that worked, because he's in it now," Buescher said. "Yeah, you love to see it. It's fun getting texts from people saying, 'I just saw Ryan Preece riding around Mooresville,' it's like, yep, that's [my] handy work keeps giving."

Let it be known that Buescher, who enlisted Preece's daughter Rebecca to pull off the prank, is a diabolical prankster.

Buescher, who knows it's his turn to be pranked next, has been waiting for the return fire from Preece since July, but says that the two drivers chose to keep their fun rivalry paused in the lead-up weeks to the Chase, as they both knew what was at stake for themselves and the RFK Racing team.

But something funny happened down the stretch.

Preece, who had been having a decent, but not incredible season, prior to the delivery of his custom Ford Dually, saw his performance increase in the six races after he received the truck from Buescher and began using it as his daily driver around town.

Preece was 10th at North Wilkesboro, eighth at Indianapolis, and after finishes of 20th and 17th at Iowa and Richmond, he closed out the regular season with a ninth-place effort at New Hampshire and his first-career win at Daytona.

In that six-race stretch, Preece clawed his way from 18th in the standings, 26 points below the cutline, to a Chase berth with the win at Daytona.

Seeing how Preece's performance has improved since accepting the truck, it truly seems like the truck has given Preece and the No. 60 team an extra boost. It now has Buescher thinking that perhaps he needs a custom truck.

"If so, I'm going to have him come wrap mine. We'll return the favor, here," Buescher quipped.

Whatever Preece has up his sleeve for his rebuttal to the custom dually prank, Buescher will likely not see it coming, and it will likely be even more embarrassing than the truck prank continues to be. Preece has had a long time to sit in the truck that his daughter helped design and think up ideas of how best to exact his revenge.

But for now, the focus is on chasing a NASCAR Cup Series title for RFK Racing, and that starts with Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

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