DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: With the exact fate of his NASCAR Cup Series schedule still up in the air this season, Ryan Preece continues to make a pitch that he wants to remain in the No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet for the full 2021 season – and perhaps even a shot at the Playoffs.
Not necessarily known for his road-racing skills, Preece stepped up to the plate during Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 and delivered back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time in his Cup career after finishing ninth at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Road Course.
After the race, Preece said Sunday was the best Cup car he had ever driven on a road course.
“Our No. 37 Kroger | Coca-Cola Chevrolet was the best road course car we’ve had,” said Preece. “We struggled early in the race needing a little more forward drive, but Trent (Owens, crew chief) made some really great adjustments and kept working on it to get us where we could make moves.”
The former NASCAR Xfinity Series winner praised the efforts of his team for building such a competitive car and even though he incurred damage late in the race, he was able to fend off his challengers for his seventh career top-10.
“I’m really proud of everyone at JTG Daugherty Racing for giving us a car that was fast and even with the damage from a late-race caution, we were able to hold our track position and get a second top-10 finish for the season,” Preece added.
Seventh in points after two races, Preece heads to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway next weekend with momentum on his side and another race where he is guaranteed to start based on his performances thus far in 2021.
“It’s been a great start so far and we’re just going to keep digging forward next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway,” sounded Preece.
Even with confidence on their side, a tall task awaits Preece and crew chief Owens.
In three previous Homestead starts, Preece has only managed a best result of 24th last June.
On the flip side, if JTG is able to bring another strong car to the track, Preece is no stranger to solid results at the South Florida race track. In 2017 and 2018, he earned a fifth and sixth place finish respectively driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Following Homestead, 2021 owner points will make a huge difference in the starting grid formula and with the JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet likely to breathe a little easier heading into the month of March, the team is hopeful the strong start of 2021 continues and provides the opportunity for additional funding to fall into place.
As of the Daytona 500, JTG only had enough funding for Preece in 24 of the 36 races in 2021.
On the flip side, JTG Daugherty Racing teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who is fully funded for the year has finished 18th in both events at Daytona over the last two weekends has the two-time Cup Series winner 15th in points with 34 races remaining.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
