SPARTA, Ky. – The decision to scale back from running a full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) mid-pack program to run a select number of races for Joe Gibbs Racing has certainly paid off for Ryan Preece.
From an impressive debut at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where he finished second to XFINITY Series master Kyle Busch to earning his first career win in a dominating performance at Iowa Speedway, Preece spoke volumes to those who refuse to give up on their dream and wait for that right opportunity.
Sure, that right opportunity has come at the cost of a hefty check to drive for one of the most potent teams in the XFINITY Series garage, but the respect and attention that Preece has since embraced is something that can’t be forgotten.
Saturday night’s VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 wasn’t originally on the schedule for Preece and Joe Gibbs Racing. Though proving that with the right opportunity, the best equipment and confidence himself, the Berlin, Connecticut native has the talent to get the job done.
He hopes to prove it twice in his third start at Kentucky’s fast 1.5-mile oval.
I was actually sitting underneath the race car pulling a drive shaft out when I got the call from Steve de Souza, so that was pretty funny,” told Preece about how Kentucky came to fruition.
“Yeah, it was really cool to have somebody call you up, and obviously funding is part of this deal right now, so we had some partners come on and help it all make it happen, and Toyota obviously stepping up, also. It’s a huge part of it, but at the end of the day, I’m just really thankful to be here at Kentucky with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, and to have the teammates that I have, Matt Tifft and Kyle Benjamin.”
With Kentucky hosting its final fall event for the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Preece realizes that the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 is the opening round of the playoffs for the tour and plans to race his competition with respect, but the NASCAR Next alumnus also said that he has a job to do not being a playoff driver.
After all his career is on the line.
“I have respect for everybody I race, absolutely. I wouldn’t go wrecking somebody. But at the same time, this is my career, and this is my last race as far as I know. Yeah, I’m going to do everything I can to win that race.
“That’s for sure. But I have the utmost respect for pretty much every driver that I’m racing against, so I wouldn’t ever do anything to jeopardize their chances, but at the same time, I hope they respect the fact that I’m going to be racing hard, and this is what my career is going to be living on.”
Of course, Preece is not only racing for his career, but he’s driving his guts out for the people that have stood behind the accomplished Modified racer from the Northeast.
Last weekend, Preece’s longtime Modified partner Ted Christopher perished in a plane crash en route to a race in New York. This weekend, Preece will pay his respect to a racer whom he had a lot of respect for – and although he never knew if Christopher felt the same, he’d like to believe he did.
“Teddy (Christopher), we got into it quite often on the racetrack. I respected him a lot, and I’ll never know if he ever respected me back. You’re always trying to earn that respect. But it’s what I’ve told through Instagram and a couple people that published it. The last conversation I ever had with Teddy was at Oswego a couple weeks back, and he said to me, in his Teddy voice, Hey, you’re going to miss New Hampshire this weekend?
“I said, Yeah, and right now I’m currently leading the Whelen Modified Tour Championship, which is a huge deal for us in the Northeast, and I looked back, and I said, yeah, it’s something I’ve been trying to do for a long time, my entire life. This is my goal. He goes, yeah, you know, all right, I’ll let you do it, as long as you win. He was always about winning.
“So, I talked to his brother Mike on Tuesday. I wanted to make sure it was okay with him and obviously Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing allowed us to do it, which was having the silver numbers, which is what I’m used to seeing when I grew up watching Teddy Christopher in the Mystique No. 13. It’s special to me to have TC’s name on the roof, the silver numbers. Hopefully, I can have him riding with me tomorrow, and we can get him back into victory lane.”
If Preece is feeling pressure to win again Saturday night, he isn’t showing it. Return to JGR for the first time since winning a race, honoring one of his Modifieds finest, racing for his future and oh having the fastest car in final XFINITY Series practice on Friday evening, Preece has been walking around with his contagious smile and an upbeat attitude, despite a clouded future in the sport.
When asked about his plans for 2018, Preece made it clear – nothing’s finalized.
But a fall win in the Bluegrass state couldn’t hurt matters for wanting a healthy return to the XFINITY Series next year.
“Everything is kind of out of my hands at that point,” Preece mentioned. “I’d love to be here full-time or part-time. You know, I’ve made that very clear. This is where I want to be. But I want to be contending for wins. I feel like I have to.
“All the experience that I got up to this point, I wouldn’t trade that for the world because it’s gotten me ready, but hopefully I can win and we’ll be talking about some other stuff in the future, but right now I don’t have a clue what’s happening next year or towards the end (of 2018).”
Before Preece shifts his focus towards the future, however, he first must master Kentucky and he had an ideal layout of what he’d like to see when the checkered waves.
“We’re (Preece and teammates Kyle Benjamin and Matt Tifft) all going to work together and try to pull a top-three sweep, so that’ll be a good one.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
