RFK Racing signs Kroger, Ryan Preece to expand in 2025
CONCORD, N.C. — RFK Racing has signed Kroger and Ryan Preece for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The support from Kroger will allow the Brad Keselowski-co-owned team to open a third entry – No. 60 Ford – for Preece in 2025. RFK Racing will lease a charter from Rick Ware Racing for the No. 60 entry.
It is Preece’s third full-time opportunity in the Cup Series, coming after full-time tenures at JTG-Daugherty Racing from 2019-21 and Stewart-Haas Racing from 2023-24.
Preece has shown strength but has mainly been with teams on the decline throughout his career. In his final year with JTG-D, his No. 37 entry was unchartered and a full season wasn’t guaranteed. Preece’s last two full-time seasons came with a championship organization in decline, entering what became its final two seasons.
Preece is still winless in his NASCAR Cup Series career but 2025 presents a new opportunity.
“My entire career has been unorthodox but I have unfinished business and I want to win,” Preece said. “It’s an opportunity filled with pressure but if you look at my career, I’ve performed in those situations.”
Preece added that after the closure of SHR, there was uncertainty.
“There were some opportunities out there but I wasn’t sure. That makes me that much more thankful to have this. It seemed like back in July, I was looking at properties in Connecticut [home state] so if this didn’t happen, I was probably going to move back.”
Preece will have Keselowski and Chris Buescher as his teammates. Keselowski and Buescher both won in the NASCAR Cup Series last season. Buescher also won in 2023 and 2022, the first season of RFK Racing, so expectations are high.
RFK Racing believes in him, though.
“We wanted to make sure our two-car team was competitive enough and to do it with the right partner and driver. Previous opportunities didn’t work like this did,” said Steve Newmark, the president of RFK Racing.
“Kroger is a blue-chip brand and we’re bringing a lot of talent with Ryan Preece, crew chiefs, engineers… and what we need to be a perennial threat to win any given Sunday,” Keselowski said. “When I see Ryan, I see a work ethic and talent, but he just hasn’t been given the right opportunity. We want to put him with the right people and the right team and we believe we can do that.”
Kroger and nearly 20 brands will appear across the RFK Racing cars throughout the season.
“We’re very excited to be teaming up with RFK Racing and know having three drivers as members of the Kroger Racing Family will be an added benefit for all our brand sponsors involved in the program,” said Erin Sanchez, vice president of grocery for Kroger. “The opportunity to utilize multiple drivers in their marketing strategies both in our stores and within their merchandising initiatives is something we’re all looking forward to with the start of the 2025 season.”
Kroger has worked with JTG-Daugherty Racing for the last 14 seasons, dating back the 2010 season opener. Together, they earned three wins. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won twice – the 2023 Daytona 500 and the fall Talladega race this year – while A.J. Allmendinger won at Watkins Glen for them in 2014. Stenhouse made the playoffs in 2023 and Allmendinger made it in 2014.
“Kroger’s relationship with JTG Daugherty Racing, and most recently, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., have really been something special,” said Brent Cox, director of health and baby care for Kroger. “Everyone at Kroger and all our participating sponsors wish the team and Ricky nothing but the best and thank them for all they’ve done for us over the years. We are excited to continue working with Tad and Jodi Geschickter through their marketing firm, BAM (Brand Activation Maximizer), as we move into this new chapter with RFK Racing. BAM will continue to represent the Kroger Racing program, and we know it’s in good hands with their team.”
Cox elaborated on Kroger’s move to RFK Racing.
“We were looking to get to a bigger team to win races. Through our search with Tad and Jodi [Geshickter], we talked to Brad and it made a lot of sense to do that,” Cox said. “[We stay because] it’s the value of the NASCAR shopper and what we see at Kroger. They see the value in the customer and the value in this program. It’s all about selling cases and winning races.”
RFK Racing will also have BuildSubmarines.com, Castrol and Fastenal back as sponsors next season.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com