While most drivers are preparing for one or two races this weekend, Ryan Preece is taking it a step further as he is set to run four races total in the span of three days. Preece will start off the weekend by running Friday’s Whelen Modified All-Star Shootout at New Hampshire before heading back to Connecticut to run Friday night’s Whelen All-American Series SK Modified race at Stafford Motor Speedway. Then on Saturday, he’ll return to New Hampshire to return the Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco 100 and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200.
“With four races, that’s four opportunities to run very well,” Preece commented earlier this week. “Right now with the Modified Tour team, we’ve been building up some momentum, and we’ve had two of our best finishes this season the past two races, so I’m hoping to use what we learned in our test and to have a strong car that can win there. I’ve finished third there three times, so to improve that would be really, really good. I’d be happy.
“Also going over to Stafford with our SK Modified, we’re going three races this season with that, we’ve been real strong, and hopefully weather doesn’t come in, which it doesn’t seem like it will, so we’ll be able to have a good strong run there. And then obviously with the Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday, running that race and trying to win it, the Nationwide car, I’d say our expectations are to run strong.”
The 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion made his Nationwide Series debut at New Hampshire last year, finishing 24th.
“We ran pretty well last year, and we were a little conservative,” he reflected. “We wanted to pretty much run all the laps, and a rookie mistake on my part trying to charge into the box for the pit stop, I slid through, and then we ran out of fuel with three to go in the Lucky Dog spot. I think this year we’re going to be a little bit more aggressive as far as the setup goes, and with Zach McGowan, crew chief and me, we’ve been real good. We’ve been texting back and forth looking at notes and just really trying to be prepared for this race. I’m definitely pretty excited, and I really can’t thank Tommy (Baldwin) enough for this opportunity.”
Preece adds that going into the weekend, his goal is to score his first career Nationwide Series top-10 finish, despite some people sayign that it’s a long shot for the underfunded team.
“I know the amount of work that’s gone into this race car, and Tommy and Zach and all the things we’ve been looking over from last year to this year and what we can improve on and what I can improve on, and I think it’s something realistic,” he explained. “But it’s the same goals as last year, also: Keep the car in one piece, don’t tear it up, finish every single lap of the race and just keep getting experience and keep running. I mean, you can’t gain experience if you’re out by lap 50 or 100. So we’re going to try to finish all the laps and have a good, strong run.”
Kicking off the weekend with Friday’s shootout, there is no doubt that Preece is going up against some of the top modified drivers with an interesting format that includes a pair of twin 20-lap features and drawing to determine the starting spot.
“The short runs like that are going to create for some awesome racing and a lot of fun, and obviously all the bonuses that come along with it, whether it’s if you have the fastest lap in the race or the most positions gained throughout the race,” Preece predicted. “It’s going to create for some excitement, and as long as everybody respects one another, because I know most of us are going to run the same car the next day, we shouldn’t have a problem. But I’m really excited for it; it’s a great opportunity that Whelen New Hampshire and NASCAR has presented for the modifieds, and we just have to take advantage of it and put on a show.”
Then with the modified event on Saturday at New Hampshire, Preece has it ranked high on list of “want to wins but not yet won” and says that it’s a very hard race to win.
“It’s something that you have to have the right place, the right time, the car to do it and everything, and we work so hard at it, and we’ve had a really good car last year in the July race,” Preece said. “We had a good car that was capable of it happening, but unfortunately we just didn’t have the right situation on the last lap, and I think we broke our primary motor in practice so that kind of put us down.
“I’m going to try everything I can. My team is going to try everything they can, and hopefully you’ll see us in victory lane, but I want to try to have a really strong run, try to get back up on the horse and try to gain some points on these guys so I can possibly try and repeat, but we’ve got some time to do this.”
