September 28th, 2018
Ryan Preece earns full-time Monster Energy Series ride with JTG Daugherty Racing By Staff Report NASCAR.com JTG Daugherty Racing announced Friday that Ryan Preece will drive the team’s No. 47 Chevrolet next year in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Preece, who made his mark as a decorated champion in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, will succeed AJ Allmendinger, the No. 47 team’s driver the last five seasons. Allmendinger scored a breakthrough premier series victory for himself and JTG Daugherty at Watkins Glen in 2014. The team announced Sept. 25 that Allmendinger would not return in 2019. “To finally get to this level and earn it, it’s really a short-trackers’ dream,” Preece said. “To get here and to race for people with such class, it’s a family-owned team and that’s something I’ve always been a part of. Hopefully we can start out strong and compete for wins.” Preece, 27, has driven on a part-time basis for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series the last two seasons. In that span, he’s collected two victories — last season at Iowa Speedway and earlier this year at Bristol Motor Speedway. He’s scheduled to run the majority of the races left in the season in JGR equipment. It was that Bristol race where Preece first hopped onto the radar of team competition director Ernie Cope and team owner Tad Geschickter, who watched the underdog in good equipment give more experienced drivers all they could handle. “I’m excited,” Cope said. “I started watching him at the end of the year at Homestead, and he drove hard. Watching that Bristol race and watching him go after it and I’m like, ‘This guy is something.’ Then you hear his backstory, and that’s the mold I’m looking for. “Every time I’ve called him he’s in the shop.” Preece made five career starts in NASCAR’s top division in 2015 for car owner Mike Curb. He followed that partial schedule with a full-season Xfinity Series slate for JD Motorsports in 2016. Preece secured the Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2013. He also has four runner-up finishes in that series’ standings. Preece has competed in the majority of the Modified Tour’s races this season, locking up two wins (at Stafford and Langley) in eight starts. “I’m not saying this is easy,” Preece said of his ascension to the Monster Energy Series. “It’s not. There were a lot of nights where I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was going to try though. I was going to try like hell.” The team release also stated that JTG would remain a two-car operation next year. Chris Buescher currently drives the organization’s No. 37 Chevrolet, and Geschickter confirmed he would return. Geschickter added that the team would move to engines provided by Hendrick. “We’re really looking forward to having Ryan join our team for the 2019 season,” team owner Tad Geschickter said in a release. “Ryan has an impressive list of accomplishments in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series and is now being given a great opportunity to compete at NASCAR’s highest level full-time. We really believe in him and think he’s a great addition to the team.” August 5th. 2018
Ryan Preece earns top-five finish in added Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen Chris Knight www.catchfence.com WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Saturday’s Zippo 200 wasn’t originally on Ryan Preece’s limited NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule this year – but when Craftsman agreed to sponsor his No. 18 Toyota Camry, the Berlin, Conn. native certainly made the most opportunity. Known more for his skills on a short track – rather than a speedway or a road course, Preece used superior equipment to qualify eighth Saturday morning ahead of his second Xfinity Series start at The Glen. Throughout Stage 1, Preece maintained his presence inside the top-10 and had climbed to fifth by the end of the 20-lap sprint. A short time later, a summer shower rolled in and drenched the 2.45-mile course forcing teams to switch from slicks to wet tires. Knowing it was a short stint in the wet, Preece kept his No. 18 Craftsman Toyota Camry out of trouble and pitted less than 15 laps later for the switch back to slick tires. Utilizing the final laps of the stage to his advantage, Preece worked his way back to 10th and elected to stay out for the start of Stage 3. Quickly, Preece shot by Brad Keselowski for the lead – but relinquished back to the Cup invader a few laps later. Preece made his final pit stop at Lap 56 pitting for fuel only – sending him outside the top-10. By Lap 62, the two-time Xfinity Series winner was back to fourth and found himself another opportunity to win when the caution waved on Lap 66. Over the final laps of the race, Preece worked his way to second before a restart with eight laps to go – saw the on-track aggression peg with drivers making moves. Logano passed Preece on the restart – before losing two more spots to Justin Allgaier and AJ Allmendinger to take the checkered flag fourth – for his fourth top-five in six races this season. “I am pretty happy,” said Preece. “Pretty happy we got a top-five today. Wish that caution didn’t come out when……..read the rest HERE June 24th, 2018
Ryan Preece Makes His Move When It Counts at Langley A www.hometracks.nascar.com release HAMPTON, Va. — In the midst of a Saturday night short-track shootout at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway, Ryan Preece made the right move, at the right time. The Berlin, Connecticut driver passed Justin Bonsignore for the lead on lap 131, and he never looked back en route to his second NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory of the season. The triumph was the 22nd of his career, and his first at the 0.396-mile Virginia oval. The 27-year-old has now been to Victory Lane in seven of his last 19 stars in Whelen Modified Tour competition. “Justin’s car started to get tight, and my car just wasn’t at that point yet,” Preece said. “I knew I had to get by him as quick as I possibly could. Once I got in front of him, I knew I could get into my rhythm and drive away.” When the caution flew on lap 103 for a planned mid-race break, Bonsignore, Doug Coby and Eric Goodale elected to stay on the track and take over the top three spots. On the restart, Coby lost positions, and eventually cut down a left-rear tire that ended his night. On the following green flag, Preece began to hound the back bumper of Bonsignore’s No. 51 Phoenix Communications Inc. Chevrolet, and attempted to make the pass multiple times — but to no avail. Finally, on lap 131, Preece took the bottom lane off turn two, and cleared to the point down into turn three. He was not challenged for the remainder of the race. Bonsignore settled for second, with Matt Hirschman charging back up through the field late to finish in third. “He was a gentleman about it, I was doing everything I could to block his crossover move up off,” Bonsignore said of the battle with Preece. “I could see in the mirror that he was most likely going to get me. That was a lot of fun. Good short-track racing. When we are bummed about second, that’s really good right now.” Preece was out front in the No. 6 TS Haulers Chevrolet for a race-high 83 laps, while Bonsignore was out front for 25 laps. Chase Dowling finished sixth, followed by Ronnie Williams, Rowan Pennink, Chris Pasteryak and Blake Barney. Bonsignore holds a 23-point advantage in the championship standings over Dowling, while Timmy Solomito is 44 points back in third. Craig Lutz, who had his motor expire on lap 29, dropped to fourth in the standings. The WhosYourDriver.org 150 from Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway will air on NBCSN on Thursday, June 28, at 7 p.m. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to the track at Riverhead Raceway on Saturday, July 7. April 14th, 2018
Ryan Preece doubles up, grabs Xfinity win and Dash 4 Cash bonus at Bristol A www.nascar.com article Ryan Preece rolled to victory and a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. Preece’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota led 39 of the 300 laps in the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300. His first win of the year was his first in the series at Bristol and the second of his Xfinity career. Justin Allgaier recovered from a Stage 1 incident and wound up second in the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet. Daniel Hemric, Elliott Sadler and Spencer Gallagher completed the top five. Preece collected the Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus, edging out three other eligible drivers — third-place finisher Hemric, Cole Custer (eighth) and Christopher Bell (29th). Top finishers Allgaier, Hemric, Sadler and Gallagher will be eligible for the next six-figure payday in the series’ next race, Friday’s ToyotaCare 250 (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Richmond Raceway. Preece is not on the entry list for Richmond’s 250-lapper. Brandon Jones led a race-high 106 laps in a bid for his first series victory but faded to a sixth-place finish. Jones’ No. 19 team opted for a two-tire pit stop on the final pit stop while his rivals chose four. Preece pulled away from Jones on the final restart to lead the final 10 laps. Bell’s exit from Dash 4 Cash contention was the most dramatic. The Joe Gibbs Racing rookie led 35 laps, won the race’s first stage and was running third when trouble started in front of him just before the halfway point. Ryan Sieg’s car initiated contact that spun Vinnie Miller’s No. 01, slowing Cody Ware’s No. 74. Bell, unable to stop or take evasive action, piled in to the Miller-Ware fracas and made heavy contact with the right side of the No. 20 Toyota. “That was our worst run handling-wise,” said Bell, who was sidelined after completing 140 laps. “I thought we had a car that was capable of doing it and then a guy that’s a couple seconds off the pace spins out in front of me.” The race was slowed by 13 caution periods, the most for an Xfinity Series event at the .533-mile Tennessee track since 2006. This story will be updated at www.nascar.com |