While Chandler Smith and Joey Logano celebrated victories this weekend at North Wilkesboro, two drivers quietly turned in performances worth a closer look.
Cup Series: Ryan Preece & RFK Racing
It really says something about Ryan Preece’s afternoon at North Wilkesboro that I didn’t realize he had finished in the top 10 until I looked back through the results after the race.
That’s exactly what makes this result perfect for this column, though.
Preece started 21st and methodically worked his way through the field to finish 10th, never earning stage points or leading a lap. He didn’t mount a dramatic charge to the front, gamble on an aggressive alternate strategy or risk running out of fuel to get there. Instead, like other drivers previously featured in this column, Preece put together one of the cleanest races in the field, avoiding mistakes and steadily gaining positions.
The finish marked Preece’s fourth top-10 result of the season. While that’s well behind the 14 top-10 finishes he recorded in 2025, what’s encouraging is where those results have come from. His top 10s have come across a diverse collection of tracks, proving the RFK Racing driver isn’t relying on any one style of racing to find speed.
Preece scored his first top-10 at EchoPark with a ninth-place finish, followed it with eighth-place finishes at Bristol and Sonoma, and now adds a 10th-place finish at North Wilkesboro.
Consistency has been difficult for the No. 60 team and for Ford as a whole this season, but performances like Sunday’s show the speed is still there. If Preece can string together more afternoons like this, he could quietly work his way into the Chase while drivers like Shane van Gisbergen continue grabbing headlines.
Craftsman Truck Series: Tyler Reif & Niece Motorsports
Tyler Reif’s closest brush with a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory so far came at the San Diego Street Course, but his drive at North Wilkesboro Speedway may have revealed just as much about the 19-year-old.
After nearly pulling off the upset in California, Reif returned to action this past weekend at North Wilkesboro. Starting 30th, the Niece Motorsports driver spent the afternoon doing the kind of work that doesn’t earn headlines, methodically working his way through the field while staying out of trouble. By the end of the 250 laps, he had climbed as high as seventh before coming home in 12th.
Starting 30th, Reif never tried to force the issue. He simply kept moving, avoiding mistakes that could derail inexperienced drivers and turning a deep starting spot into another respectable finish. That’s the kind of afternoon that builds confidence for both the driver and team.
For all the attention San Diego brought him, North Wilkesboro showcased a different side of his game. There were no late-race restarts to capitalize on and no real opportunity to battle for the win. Instead, Reif spent the afternoon making small gain after small gain, keeping the truck intact and putting himself in position for a good finish. For a driver making just his eighth Truck Series start, that’s just as encouraging as raw pace.
Reif has now shown that he can be competitive on three vastly different racetracks. His debut at Phoenix last season resulted in a ninth place finish, his breakout run this season came on a street course, and his follow-up was a patient drive through the field at one of NASCAR’s oldest short tracks.
Rather than showing speed at only one type of venue, Reif has now produced encouraging performances on a mile oval, a temporary street course and a historic short track.
North Wilkesboro won’t generate the same headlines that San Diego did, and frankly, it shouldn’t. One was a near-win. The other was a 12th-place finish.
But if San Diego introduced Tyler Reif to the NASCAR world, North Wilkesboro reinforced the idea that he isn’t a one-trick pony. That’s the kind of follow-up performance I enjoy paying attention to.