Preece on G+: ‘We Can Turn It Around’
Defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT participated in a Google+ hangout earlier this evening. Preece had a 21 point lead at this time a year ago with three wins and eight top fives in ten starts. The driver of the East West Marine No. 16 has four races left to earn a victory (Riverhead Saturday, New Hampshire, Stafford and Thompson).
Preece said his favorite tracks are Bristol, Riverhead and Monadnock. “I really like every racetrack, but Bristol and Riverhead are definitely two of the ones that stand out to me.”
Riverhead is among his best tracks with four wins and eight top fives and nine top 10s in nine starts. Preece has an average finish of 3.2. Preece has three victories in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series this season at Riverhead as well.
“There are four of I would say my better tracks and Stafford’s been a little rough to us this year,” Preece said. “But I think we can turn it around and there’s four races, so that’s four opportunities to win. We’re going to see what we can do and see if we can turn this season around.”
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Although he is sixth and 46 points behind Doug Coby, Preece believes repeating as champion is possible. “I like Justin (Bonsignore) a lot. He’s a funny guy and I wish nothing but the best for him. I hope he wins the MRS title, but I still have four more chances to try and beat him on the tour. Even though it’s going to be hard, but I think I could still pull it off.”
Preece returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend for the F.W. Webb 100. He is seeking his first victory at Loudon.
“I’m sure if I won it I would have thought it was great, but we just unfortunately, I ended up running out of time and not being in the right lane,” Preece said of the inaugural Whelen All-Star Shootout. “So I thought it was great that Whelen and New Hampshire came together to put this deal on and Town Fair Tire and everybody, so it was definitely interesting. I wish I could have another shot at it, so I’m lucky enough to have that in a couple of weeks.”
Preece will make his third NASCAR Nationwide Series start November 15. He will drive the Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 36 in the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Preece has finished 24th and 14 in his two career starts at New Hampshire.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Preece said. “It’s a great opportunity. We’re still looking for some partners to come aboard to make it a really good effort but we’re really looking forward to it . I can’t thank Tommy Baldwin enough. East West Marine that’s out of Long Island New York that they do a lot of stuff. You guys should go check ’em out EastWestMarine.net. Dunleavy Truck and Trailer Repair any truck and trailer repair needs in Connecticut or in the Northeast you should check them out, and obviously Falmouth Ready Mix also. Those are three sponsors we have right now. We are still looking for some more, but I’m really looking forward to Homestead for sure.”
Preece compared the Nationwide car to the Modified that he normally competes in.
“The first time I ever got in a Nationwide car, the first couple of laps I took I was kind of expecting it (body roll). And they setup these full-bodied cars now is they call them platforms. They want the cars to sit as flat as possible on the racetrack, which if you think about it, when it sits flat on the racetrack you’re taking away body roll.
“…They feel stiff like a Go-Kart and the difference between a Modified which is (inaudible) and a Nationwide car is they’re heavier cars, Nationwide cars. So you don’t quite roll through the corners like you would with these tires. With these cars that have twice as much rubber in and all that, but they definitely have a little bit of power and a little bit of aerodynamics on their side, so it counterbalances things.”
The points leader in Stafford and Thompson SK Modified competition is fifth in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings with 12 wins between Riverhead, Stafford and Thompson.
Since both of his parents “were involved in racing,” Preece went to the old Riverside Park Speedway, Stafford and Thompson in his youth. His father bought a Quarter Midget when he was five or six years old, sharing the same car with his brothers. From Silver City and Thompson, it grew to include racing nationally in Quarter Midgets and eventually Karts. Preece moved to a “Three Quarter size Sprint Car” on dirt.
Preece was driving in the premier 600CC Micro class in Pennsylvania at 13. “A guy came up to me,” Preece said. “His name was Billy Schwartz and asked me how old I was and I lied to him because I was lying about my age at the time and he put me in his Modified and that’s kind of how I got to where I am right now and just trying to progress through the ranks.”
Preece has worked on his family cars for some time. It goes back to when he was 14 at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.
“We had wrecked the night before and I was just sitting there and he actually made me start picking up trash under the trailer because I wasn’t doing anything and ever since then he just won’t, he won’t let me sit around and do anything.”
Preece emphasized the importance of understanding your racecar to the younger drivers.
“(When) you get to these points where you don’t show up to the track with a perfect racecar, you kind of have an idea what a Panhard bar does, what making spring changes or rebound and compression for when you enter the corner, and tire stagger,” Preece said. “There’s so much involved to it and I would definitely advise kids that are getting into racing to work on your racecars and to read up and learn because you really won’t get anywhere if you don’t understand a racecar.”
Preece was leading on the final lap at Stafford Motor Speedway last Friday until contact with Ted Christopher. Rowan Pennink, who was next to Preece, secured his fifth victory of the year. He holds an 18 point lead on Christopher, the track’s winningest driver, with three races remaining.
“I think we almost beat Rowan (Pennink) this past week,” Preece said. ” We had a really good car. I can’t thank Earl (Pelletier) and Mike Paquette enough and all my sponsors at Stafford that consist of Mizzy Construction, Canton Auto Supply of Canton in Connecticut, Sullivan and Sons, the Poulin’s for this awesome Pettit power the Pettit race engine. I have Shawn Waddell Communications, Earl Pelletier Concrete and Gunsmoke Stables everybody involved in that whole No. 2 team, and we have a strong car.
“It’s like I’ve told everybody, every time we’re on the racetrack except for maybe once or twice this season, we’ve had a car that can win the race. We’ve been running top two. I was a little bit greedy early on in the season, well probably in the middle part of the season, because at the time I was pretty much planning on racing Richmond and I was trying to get as much of a point lead as I possibly could on Teddy (Christopher), so I was being real greedy. But right now I’m going to finish these last three races, hopefully hold the point lead on Ted and just try to keep winning races and be as consistent as I possibly can.”
Preece will have a busy week ahead. “It’s going to be a great weekend and we’re going to see if we can pull off some wins this weekend,” Preece said. He will be in Chicago on Wednesday for a NASCAR Next event. He will race the Gunsmoke Stables No. 2 at Stafford on Friday night, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Riverhead 200 on Saturday night, then make the trek to Oswego (NY) Speedway for the Race of Champions on Sunday in his family No. 41.
“My father and I maintain (the car) along with Jerry McCarsky and Mike German and we have a few other crew members that come and help us,” Preece said. “We just put a lot of time into it. We make sure every time we roll out and go to the races that we’re prepared and we have everything we need to do to win that race.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com
Notes:
Preece will remain active during the offseason at On Track Karting, the Brookfield indoor karting facility.
Preece drove his favorite car, a Nissan Skyline GTR , at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park last month. “Those are really nice cars,” Preece said. “…It was a pretty sweet ride.”