BRISTOL, Tenn. – Ryan Preece took a gamble on himself one year ago and made it pay off with a NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Iowa Speedway for Joe Gibbs Racing.
At the end of Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, Preece and crew chief Eric Phillips gambled on taking four fresh tires for a 10 lap sprint to the finish. It paid off with a victory at Bristol Motor Speedway and a $100,000 check.
Preece restarted second, inside of teammate Brandon Jones, when the green flag waved for the final shootout and powered through on the bottom lane to take the lead in his No. 18 Rheem Toyota, overpowering Jones’ two new left-side tires with a full set of clean Goodyear rubber.
Once he got out front, Preece never looked back en route to his second Xfinity Series win and money in the bank as the highest-finishing Dash 4 Cash-eligible driver in the event, pocketing the six-figure bonus put up by Xfinity and Comcast.
“Man, this car was awesome,” said Preece. “These guys right here, they all work hard and they don’t get any credit on TV. I want to thank everybody for last year, for helping me make this all possible. Without last year, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now in victory lane at Bristol in a Joe Gibbs Racing XFINITY Series car. To win here man … it’s unreal.”
“It was a good run for us and a good run for Brandon,” Preece added, paying a nod to his younger teammate. “If that caution hadn’t come out, he had it in the bag … but he’s going to get there soon enough.”
After hoisting the check in victory lane, Preece said he already has plans for what he’s going to do with the bonus cash.
“I’m probably going to do something for my parents, do something for my brothers … my wife and my team,” said Preece. “We are going to go get something to drink later, for sure.”
Preece also noted that as of Saturday’s win, his gamble last year to take a three-race Xfinity Series deal with JGR was “paid off,” after he borrowed money from both a close friend and one of his former racing team owners to cover the difference that he didn’t have in sponsor funding.
“I don’t advise people to do what I did last year,” Preece noted. “It’s going to feel good to be debt-free. It’s gratifying to know that when I get paid, I’m going to have the normal worries that everyone else has and not have that hanging over my head. … Now, I get to go back home, get my hands dirty and go back to working on race cars again. I get to go back to work and that’s a great feeling.”
