DARLINGTON, S.C. – A week after posting his career-best NASCAR XFINITY Series finish last weekend at Road America (Wisc.), rookie Ryan Preece upped the ante with a solid 10th place finish in Saturday afternoon’s VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
It was Preece’s first career top-10 finish in 27 races. It was also a season-best finish for veteran XFINITY Series owner Johnny Davis and his JD Motorsports with Gary Keller race team. Davis field three full-time cars for Preece, veteran Ross Chastain (No. 4) and newcomer Garrett Smithley (No. 0).
“Just really happy with this finish and how hard this JD Motorsports team has worked,” Preece told CATCHFENCE.com. “We are finally getting on a roll and rhythm going forward. I appreciate my team and G&K Services for all they do.
“Just really happy with the progress we have made over the past few months. We have found a feel that I like and (we’re) working off of that. I won’t forget my Darlington debut, that’s for sure.”
The finish wasn’t easy for the Berlin, Connecticut native. When Hurricane Hermine forced NASCAR to cancel all on-track activities at the 1.333-mile oval, the XFINITY Series teams were left with an abbreviated schedule which left just 55 minutes of practice Saturday morning. With qualifying also canceled due to the storm, Preece fired off from 21st, but utilized a competition caution at Lap 22 to make adjustments to his No. 01 G&K Services Chevrolet Camaro.
From there, a span of green flag racing and concentration from the cockpit allowed Preece to climb through the field. When the final caution waved on Lap 103 for an incident in Turn 3, the team made their final changes with Preece restarting inside the top-15.
Hungry for a top-10 finish, Preece made moves and found himself stalled in 11th, but when Paul Menard had to pit with two laps to go for a flat tire, Preece stole a position away from his fellow Chevrolet competitor to earn his best run this season.
More importantly, though, the past two races in particular have been a confidence booster for the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified champion. In his first full season of XFINITY competition, the 25-year-old has shown speed, but has lacked finishes for one reason or another that will likely keep the NASCAR Next alumnus out of the first year of the XFINITY Series Chase despite a last minute effort.
Nonetheless, Preece will cling to the upbeat swing in his on-track performance to Richmond International Raceway next Friday night where he earned a 23rd place finish after starting 24th.
“I feel like we are all on the same page,” said Preece of his JD Motorsports team. “I like that I can communicate to my crew chief about what I feel and we can work together on what changes we should make. It’s a really solid team to work with and I’m looking forward to Richmond next weekend to continue that.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
