Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
Brad Keselowski’s successor is set: Ryan Preece moves from the No. 60 into the car Mark Martin won 35 Cup races in, starting in 2027.
The question had been open since late September, and now RFK Racing has answered it. Ryan Preece will drive the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, the team’s flagship, starting with the 2027 season. He replaces Brad Keselowski, who has driven the car since 2022 and leaves RFK as a driver and co-owner after this season. The team announced the move on Wednesday, four days before the season finale at Homestead-Miami.
The whole crew moves with him
Preece joined RFK at the start of 2025 and has driven the No. 60 ever since. Nothing has to be reshuffled: his entire team, led by crew chief Derrick Finley, moves with him to the No. 6. According to the team’s announcement, the car will run the full 2027 season as a chartered entry. RFK plans to announce the future of the No. 60 at a later date.
Team president Chip Bowers kept his explanation short: “Ryan Preece is a true racer making him the perfect fit for the number 6.” On track, Preece delivered this year. In February he won the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, a race that pays no championship points. In August came his first Cup Series win in a points race at Daytona, which also secured his spot in the Chase.
A number with weight
The No. 6 is not just any car in the stable. Mark Martin drove it from 1988 to 2006 and won 35 Cup Series races in it. After him, David Ragan, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman and Keselowski held the seat as full-time drivers. Preece will be the sixth full-time driver of the number at RFK.
Martin himself gave his successor his blessing: “I like Ryan Preece because he’s a racer, plain and simple.” And further: “He came up the hard way, and he’s had to fight for everything he’s gotten.” Preece, the 2013 Whelen Modified Tour champion from Berlin, Connecticut, already knows the number, by the way. He used to run it for Ed Partridge, “who was more than just a car owner to me,” as he put it. On the move to RFK’s No. 6 he said: “To be trusted with the 6 means more to me than I can put into words.”
Homestead first, then Daytona
Before that, there is one more race under the old lineup. On Sunday at Homestead-Miami, Keselowski drives the No. 6 for the last time, with Preece still in the No. 60. After 258 Cup Series starts with JTG Daugherty Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and RFK, he then gets the car with the richest history on the team. His first points race in the No. 6 is the Daytona 500 on February 21, 2027, at the track where he won for the first time in August.
