RFK Racing is adding a third full-time team for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, announcing its expansion plans Tuesday that includes the organization signing driver Ryan Preece and marquee sponsor Kroger, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the United States.
Preece will drive the No. 60 Ford in what will be his sixth full season. The 34-year-old has a best finish of third in 187 Cup starts but is stepping into a situation with RFK on an upswing where winning consistently is a realistically obtainable goal, unlike previous situations he’s been in. He joins an organization that additionally fields cars for Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski, who is also part owner of the team along with Jack Roush and the Fenway Sports Group.
“Ryan Preece is who we identified from day one when discussing this third entry, and his young talent from the grassroots level all the way up to the Cup Series is something that excites us moving forward,” RFK president Steve Newmark said.
All three RFK cars will carry Kroger branding and the company will serve as the primary sponsor for each driver at various times during the 2025 season. Kroger was previously JTG Daugherty Racing’s primary sponsor from 2010 to 2024, a stint that included backing Buescher for two years and Preece for three.
RFK did not disclose Tuesday whether it has or will acquire a charter for its new team, but sources briefed on the situation indicate that RFK is expected to acquire a charter from Rick Ware Racing. By RFK obtaining a charter, it ensures Preece a starting spot in all 36 points races.
Adding a third team accomplishes an objective RFK sought to fulfill ever since downsizing from three full-time teams following the 2016 season. Team leadership frequently said it would like to expand but was adamant it would do so only under the right circumstances and if the team was performing at a consistently high level.
The timing now makes sense on multiple fronts.
Over the past two years, RFK consistently had fast cars and saw its drivers produce results to match that speed. During the 2024 season, both Keselowski and Buescher won a race and were close to winning several others. Keselowski also qualified for the playoffs, while Buescher just missed doing so despite having the seventh-best average finish in the series — one position better than Keselowski.
On the always important sponsorship side of things, entering into a multiyear deal with Kroger provided the necessary support to justify expanding.
The Cincinnati-based company is long considered one of the most sought-after sponsors within the industry due to its robust financial commitment and brand activation. When it became known earlier this year that Kroger was likely to leave JTG after its long association, several upper-tier teams pursued the contract before a deal was eventually reached with RFK. That both Buescher and Preece have an existing relationship with Kroger further worked in RFK’s favor, as did the fact that RFK won six times over the past three years.
Assisting in brokering the deal was the husband-wife team of Tad and Jodi Geschickter, part of the ownership group at JTG Daugherty — though they are expected to soon formally divest their stake in the team they founded. A large portion of the credit goes to the Geschickters, Newmark said, for their help in bringing the parties together and putting RFK in a position where it could feasibly add a third team.
“We’re thrilled to formally and publicly announce our expansion plans and the next step in our evolution at RFK,” Newmark said. “We’d like to thank Kroger and the vision of Tad and Jodi, without which we wouldn’t be in the position of growing with a third car in 2025 and beyond. Their commitment to us on behalf of Kroger has not only allowed us to fulfill our growth objectives in ways we’ve long desired, but also to continue to push the envelope when it comes to finding the competitive edge needed to compete at the top level of NASCAR.”
(Photo: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
