CONCORD, N.C. – JTG Daugherty Racing made the long-speculated official on Friday morning with the announcement that former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece will drive the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 full time starting in 2019.

Preece, who currently races part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing and has one victory this season, has five prior Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts, all coming in 2015. Next year will mark his first full season at NASCAR’s top level.

“Tommy Lasorda says, ‘The difference between impossible and possible lies in a man’s determination,’ and I feel that JTG Daugherty Racing has just that,” Preece said. “It’s been many years of fighting for opportunities to compete and win races at NASCAR’s highest level, and it is nice to officially say that JTG Daugherty Racing is my new home for 2019. I look forward to not only racing, but working with the team as well to build speed and create a name for myself here. I can’t thank Tad and Jodi Geschickter, Brad Daugherty and Gordon Smith enough for the opportunity.”

“We’re really looking forward to having Ryan join our team for the 2019 season,” added team owner Tad Geschickter. “Ryan has an impressive list of accomplishments in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Series and is now being given a great opportunity to compete at NASCAR’s highest level full-time. We really believe in him and think he’s a great addition to the team.”

From Berlin, Conn., Preece started his career as a terror on the short tracks of New England, debuting in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour ranks as a fresh-faced 16-year-old in 2007, driving his family-owned No. 40 in 14 of the 16 races that season.

Though Preece struggled to get solid finishes, his grit was strong enough that the famed Boehler Racing Enterprises team picked him up the next year, with Preece earning his first-career series win in the 300-lap crown jewel at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway that fall.

Preece won twice more and finished second in points for the Boehler family in 2009 before a near three-year winless drought ensued. He finally landed a new full-time home in 2012 with Flamingo Motorsports and owner Eric Sanderson, finishing runner-up in points that season before winning his lone Whelen Tour championship in the iconic No. 16 Ford modified one year later.

Since 2015, Preece has driven for Ed Partridge and the TS Haulers team on the Tour, while also racing sporadically in the NASCAR national series ranks as well.

He ran a full season for Johnny Davis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2016, earning one top-10 finish in 33 races but gaining experience on nearly all of the tracks on the current schedule. Following that experience, Preece bet on himself and used what sponsorship money he had to run a handful of races at Joe Gibbs Racing last season.

The gamble paid off, as Preece won at Iowa Speedway and catapulted himself into the national spotlight. He finished inside the top five in all four races he ran for Gibbs, for an average finish of third.

A perfect record of top-five finishes in 2017 earned Preece a reprisal of his part-time role at Joe Gibbs Racing this season, where he drove to a win during the Dash 4 Cash race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April and earned a $100,000 bonus check.

All told, Preece believes that his past short-track experience and his up-and-down road to get to this point have prepared him for the challenges that await him in the Cup Series next season.

“Guys like Reggie Ruggiero, Mike Stefanik and Ted Christopher … those guys in the Northeast won’t give you an inch and you have to learn to race with the best of them,” said Preece, a 25-time NASCAR modified winner and two-time Xfinity Series winner. “Those guys, week in and week out, they make you figure out ways to make it happen and it has been the same way in my racing career.

“There’s never I can’t. It’s make it happen, no matter what it takes.”

While Preece has maintained a heavy schedule of short-track races up to this point, even in spite of his Xfinity Series duties with Joe Gibbs Racing, don’t expect to see him doing so nearly as much next year.

Preece noted Friday he knows his primary focus will need to be on his Cup Series obligations, but that he “already has some approvals to run some modified races.”

“There won’t be any interference with the Cup side, though,” Preece added. “I imagine I might do double-duty at Loudon during New Hampshire weekend, because that’s a big weekend for me, but if there’s a mid-week show that doesn’t conflict with any obligations I have with these guys … I’ll try to make some races work, for sure.”

For the 27-year-old who was told he might have missed his time to make it to the top level of the sport, Preece grinned as he soaked in the moment on Friday.

“This is a dream come true,” admitted Preece.”To finally get here, to this level … it’s everything a short tracker like me ever hopes to accomplish.

“I’m excited for this opportunity and hopefully we can start out strong.”