NASCAR’s Preece aims for consistent runs down stretch
In his last few races in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ryan Preece believes that the final stat sheets don’t exactly show the type of race he had that day.
While he finished in 24th on Sunday at the 2020 Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead, Florida, Preece said that was one of the better runs he had this season. He felt that way even though he finished 12th at Bristol, Tennessee, in the Supermarket Heroes 500 and 18th in the FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway before the season was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s easy to look at race results and go off of other statistics,” Preece said. “We had three engine failures when we’ve had solid runs. This past weekend we were running top 15, but we didn’t have the breaks, missed one adjustment and lost a lot of track. We’re getting there and once we do, it’ll be consistent.”
While Preece is averaging a 25th-place finish this season, he still is striving for more. Preece found success early in the NASCAR scene, becoming the youngest driver to win the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship (22 years, 11 months) in 2013.
After gaining experience in the Cup and Xfinity series, Preese joined JTG Daugherty Racing in the fall of 2018 to drive full time in place of A.J. Allmendinger. In 2019, his first full year in Cup series, Preece broke into the top 10 three times, including a third place finish at the 2019 GEICO 500 at Talladega, Alabama, and an eighth-place finish at the Daytona 500.
“Keep working with the people you’ve been working with is how you find success in racing,” Preece said about the support he gets from JTG. “In racing you need to find that balance that makes you feel comfortable and makes speed. I know working with Trent and JTG have been good and we can keep finding success.”
Still under the JTG name and nearing the halfway point of the Cup series, Preece said that he’s driven some good cars this year, but it’s about getting lucky when driving those cars in taking advantage of the situation he’s in.
“A lot of making sure that everything runs smoothly is luck in the end,” said Preece, who drives the No. 37 Chevrolet in a number change from last season. “On the days you have good cars, you need to capitalize on them. As far as good cars, you can tell in the first few laps. If we continue to show up the way we did at Homestead, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Along with trying to find a consistent rhythm on the track, Preece has also had to make some adjustments in relation to NASCAR’s return amid the pandemic. Precautions range from having taking temperatures before entering facilities to logging information if a driver has been exposed to the virus over the past week.
Along with driver precautions, another big change is that fans have not been allowed to attend races, although that began to change in Homestead with select military attendees in the stands; about 5,000 general fans will be permitted to attend Sunday’s race at Talladega.
Preece said while it does take away some of the energy from racing, he is unaffected on the track. Even during the pause, he said he didn’t have a problem jumping back into the driver’s seat.
“I stayed racing when it came to that eye-raising stuff,” Preece said. “I felt fine coming back and finding my rhythm.”
With the Bluegreen Vacations 500 at Phoenix Raceway closing out the season during NASCAR championship week in November, Preece said that he’s looking to continue to build on his current relationship with JTG and find more good runs on the racetrack.
“You gotta look week to week right now, but we would want to start putting together more solid runs,” Preece said. “Hopefully we can find some speed for Phoenix and have a great run.”