Stability is the payoff for perseverance within the tough and tumble world of motorsports.
That’s actually been the case for NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece, the operator of the No. 41 IUOE Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Preece, 32, is a local of Berlin, Conn., who methodically labored his manner up by way of the NASCAR hierarchy to the fringes of the Cup Series Tour.
Reese’s fortunes took an upswing when he gained the boldness of higher administration at SHR and took over the No. 41 from Cole Custer. That’s the closet factor to job safety that an upstart driver can count on whereas establishing his presence on the Cup Series Tour.
“Coming from where I have come from and the work I have put in and everything it takes to get to this level, it is nice to have people at the organization to have my back,” mentioned Preece.
“At the identical time, we are able to develop and proceed to construct and proceed to get higher. I like being at SHR. It’s a spot the place I’m on the race store on a regular basis as if it have been my very own and that’s a number of enjoyable.
“In (2022) I was there every day doing a lot of simulator work, which as a driver, it is one of those important tools that we have. Also, I was building relationships and showing how badly I wanted that opportunity. I was lucky enough that it all came together and they gave it to me,” he mentioned.
Preece has made 17 begins and is twenty fourth within the driver standings with 290 factors coming off a Sixteenth-place end within the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on June 25. Preece began twenty fifth and needed to overcome a free experience early within the race to climb 9 spots.
Preece has three finishes within the prime 10 and earned his first pole on the NICO 400 on the quick observe at Martinsville on April 16. Preece will make his 18th begin in Sunday’s operating of the Grand Park 220 on the Chicago Street course, a 2.2-mile structure over a dense city grid.
“There has been some good and there’s been some bad and we started off with a bang at a non-points race in LA,” mentioned Preece. “Moving ahead, we’ve had some unhealthy luck. I’ve by no means had the variety of unhealthy issues occur all through the course of the start of the season that did occur.
“But we were able to go to Martinsville and get the pole and the lead lap. There were definitely some takeaways from there and the last five weeks, which is typically a tough stretch, we have been able to put together some pretty consistent runs. I look forward to the second half of the season and building on that momentum.”
Preece credit crew chief Chad Johnston for the staff’s latest turnaround and is trying ahead to “coming home” on July 16 for the operating of the Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
New Hampshire powerful
Preece loved a distinctively New England upbringing on the earth of auto racing. Preece graduated from the ARCA Menards Series West to the grinding self-discipline of open wheel racing on NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour.
The modifieds are fashionable within the Northeast and are staged on the quick ovals of Northern New England and the tri-state space. Preece made his bones on the Whelen Tour with 25 wins, 81 prime 5 finishes, 110 prime 10 finishes and captured the sequence championship in 2013.
The Rose Bowl of the Whelen Tour is the Mohegan Sun 100 at New Hampshire, which matches off on Saturday, July 15.
“Up here in England there are some really good race-car drivers and the guys that race here are some of the toughest I’ve ever raced against in my life,” mentioned Preece. “Some of the hardest races to win have come on the modifieds and it is something I grew up on.”
Preece moved on to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the place he registered two wins, eight finishes within the prime 5 and 11 within the prime 10. Preece’s subsequent huge break was on the Xfinity Tour with Joe Gibbs Racing. In his Xfinity debut with JGR in 2017, Preece completed second at New Hampshire and recorded his first win at Iowa in his subsequent begin.
Pal Joey
The Cup Series Tour is a small, tight knit, fraternity that attracts drivers from everywhere in the nation. Preece is the junior associate of the two-man Nutmeg State delegation on the circuit.
The senior associate is reigning Cup Series champion and two-time winner Joey Logano of Middletown, Conn. Logano and Preece got here of age racing on the backwater tracks that dot New England they usually shared a youthful love affair with New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“Joey and have known each other since we were kids,” mentioned Preece. “He’s an important man and any person that I’ve recognized for a extremely very long time.
“Mike Joy always says on the (FOX) broadcasts, ‘there goes two Connecticut kids racing against each other.’ Man, that’s a lot of fun.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com