CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Ryan Preece’s move to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with JTG Daugherty Racing for the upcoming season has been heralded as a win and an inspiration for grassroots racers across the country.
Make no mistake, however, Preece has no plans of straying too far from his short-track roots, despite the fact that his plate will be filled with a national schedule this year for the first time.
Preece confirmed this week during JTG Daugherty Racing Media Day that he will still contest a handful of tour-type modified races this season, including two with the NASCAR-sanctioned Whelen Modified Tour.
His modified schedule will kick off in February at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway during the track’s annual World Series of Asphalt Racing, where the Connecticut native will run three straight nights before heading over to Daytona Int’l Speedway and preparing for Daytona 500 qualifying on Feb. 10.
“I was just unloading my modified (Wednesday) morning at a shop. Absolutely, I still plan to be in a modified,” said Preece. “I’m going to be a New Smyrna, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, for the modifieds kicking off. I plan on the weekend we have off in April … being at Bowman Gray for the 200-lapper. I plan on racing there.
“Then there are also two tour shows that I have circled on my calendar – a mid-week show at Thompson that we are going to try and do some promoting for, and obviously, New Hampshire Motor Speedway because I’m there already,” he continued. “That is a pretty big place for me. From there on, it will just kind of be fill-in stuff. If it works out it can work out, if not, it doesn’t.
“I’m from the grassroots of racing and I don’t plan on leaving it very much.”
Where Preece has showcased a penchant and desire to work on his own race cars in the past, he admitted on Wednesday that he’s going to struggle with having to be less hands-on with his Cup cars.
“One of the (crew) guys told me the other day ‘you better get used to standing around’ because I was fidgeting next to him. I was like ‘hey do you want me to help you…’ and he is like ‘no man, I want you to get used to standing there,’” Preece recalled. “I told him I didn’t think I could do that. It’s different, but being around the shop, being around the guys … I’m a very visual person. I’m not a book person. I can’t read something … I need to be hands-on. Over time that is going to come … and I’m sure I can work my way in there and they will let me tinker around a little bit. They already have somewhat, so it’s something I’m looking forward to.
“What I love about this team … I’ve talked about when I went to visit that shop and how impressed I was. Now that I’m at that shop, I see the passion,” Preece noted. “It’s not just a nine to five job for a lot of these guys. There is passion behind it and they want to run well just like I do. It’s pretty motivating. Now we just have to get on the race track and back up the effort.”
While it has been a long road for Preece to get to the point that he’s at now, he said he wouldn’t trade the hurdles because they gave him valuable experience along the way.
“I think I’m pretty biased when it comes to things like this, but I think the way I came up was the way … I mean it prepares you,” said Preece. “I’ve been working and learning race cars and then winning and learning to be a winner. I wouldn’t want to come up any other way. It’s gotten me, what I feel, prepared for where I am now to be ready for those restarts, be ready for situations that I’ve been in.
“I’m sure I’m going to be in different situations with the 1.5-miles. Air is going to be playing into it and Kyle Busch seems to be that guy who knows how to put you in those situations. He is a racer. But I’m looking forward to that and getting out there and seeing what we can do.”
