Preece to Make Nationwide Start at Homestead
Ryan Preece of Berlin, CT will be absent from Thompson’s championship banquet Saturday, but he has a great reason. Preece will be driving the No. 36 Accell Construction Chevrolet at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The NASCAR Next driver will be in his third NASCAR Nationwide Series start for Tommy Baldwin Racing, Preece made his debut last year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His second start at New Hampshire last July was his career best finish (fourteenth).
Preece won his second Thompson Sunoco Modified title with a 2.625 average finish in eight races. Preece recorded three victories in the No. 31 Falmouth Ready Mix car.
“It felt good,” Preece said. “I’m happy for Albert and Cathy (Moniz, car owners) because of everything they do for me and it feels good to get them another win and another championship because they work so hard and they want it so bad, so I’m really happy for them.”
A transition year for the 74-year-old facility, Thompson added a 1.7 mile road course. A nine date oval schedule was the fewest races since 1965, where track records are incomplete. The season finale World Series held points races for the weekly divisions for the first time in recent memory.
“I liked it,” Preece said. “It’s something different. I like doing races like they had us do with the double points and the twin 20s and a 10 lap shootout. That’s all fun cool stuff, so I liked the season. Obviously being a racer I want to race more, but at the same time I understand the business on how it needs to go and I think it worked out. It’s probably a little bit more cost effective for a lot of people too, so it worked plenty fine for me.”
Preece has an enviable record recently, recording a championship each of the last four seasons: Stafford 2011, Thompson 2012, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 2013, Thompson 2014.
That’s really something special for sure,” Preece said. “It’s not easy to win these deals, so when you do it feels good and you never know when you’re going to get another one. So it’s been an accomplishment and it just goes to show you that I have good cars and good teams and good people around me.”
In
addition to Claremore, OK based Accell Construction, his efforts are supported by East West Marine of Manorville, NY; Falmouth Ready Mix of E. Falmouth, MA; and Dunleavy Truck and Trailer Repair of Brookfield, CT.
Preece’s said his priority is to “get a lot of laps, that’s goal number one. I know the first practice we’re going to unload and we’re going go right out there and just run laps. Other than that, probably try and beat what I did last time at New Hampshire, which was a 14th. I’d like to possibly beat that, but if they kind of want to keep the car in one piece, I want to improve and get track time, so that’s big, so we’ll see.”
“I’ve done a countless amount of online watching on car cameras, iRacing, just everything. Every little bit helps and Friday when the first practice goes out for those 50 minutes it (is) going to be a lot of just getting used to. Hopefully we get used to it right away, which – one thing I’ve been able to do is adapt really quick, so hopefully that’s what happens and we can just start working on the car and have a good run.”
Preece compared the 1.5 mile progressively banked oval to Thompson, where he has recorded 21 wins (tied with NEAR Hall of Famer Ed Flemke).
“One way of looking at it, the track as far as multi-grooves is kind of like Thompson in a way, not size or feel, but just Thompson has three different, distinct grooves,” Preece said. “You have to be setup for it, but it gives you options, so if I start to get loose I think you might see me moving down and try to do what I do at Thompson and it might even work.”
Preece opted to change teams for next season on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and T.S. Haulers Motorsports. Eddie Partridge won the championship in 2011 with Ron Silk and has fielded his familiar No. 6 cars for many years.
“I wanted to race more and it came down to where the opportunity to race more is there.” Preece said. “TS Haulers with Eddie, he loves to race. He wants to run Speedweeks and open shows. There’s just an endless opportunity to run a lot of races and Eric Sanderson he opened up doors for me for sure when he took me onboard and we ran really well together and it was a lot of fun.But we ended out the way we wanted to end it and I started a new chapter in my life the way I wanted to start it, so I’m just looking forward to everything I’ve got going with Eddie and everything we can hopefully accomplish together and have some fun doing it.”
Preece has been on a roll lately, with four wins in his last five starts. He swept NAPA Fall Final weekend at Stafford Motor Speedway in SK Modifieds and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He won the next NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race, the Sunoco World Series at Thompson for Flamingo Motorsports. Preece won the North South Shootout at Caraway in his debut with Partridge last weekend.
“That’s what we wanted to do and it was great and then we were able to go out with TS and win at North South, so it was a great accomplishment,” Preece said. “Those are big milestones and hopefully I get a few more next year.”
“It’s been great,” Preece said. “This stuff doesn’t happen very much and you have more opportunities to go and win races when you run SKs because you’re running ’em so much. But when you’re running a tour car, you only have about four distinct opportunities on the Whelen Modified Tour and then when you do other races, there’s some other chances. But when you’re winning tour type races, its big. It’s not easy so I’m very fortunate and lucky that I have great stuff behind me and Eddie Partridge with his six TS Haulers team with Tommy and all them. I’m looking forward to next year and racing hard.”
Preece changing rides may seem surprising since he finished second or better all three years he drove for 
Flamingo Motorsports. It is actually following a recent trend. Four of the last five champions were not driving for the same team two years later. This has happened but once, 2000-05, when five of six drivers changed.
“Usually it’s a domino effect,” Preece said. “When one person ends up going somewhere else, it vacates a seat and then usually some drivers they feel there’s an opportunity there and then they want to go in that and then it vacates another seat, so it’s just the way things go. Usually you see it in Cup when it happens, you see it in Nationwide when it happens. It doesn’t happen quite as much, but in the Modifieds it seems like every three or four years or however many years it is, is when things start to domino effect.”
Preece has been a dominant force at Stafford Motor Speedway recently. Preece will be driving the No. 6 for a new team in 2015, his third new team in as many seasons. The core of Preece’s team will remain intact with himself, Jean-Guy Poulin and Mike Paquette. 22 of his 26 Stafford wins have come in the SK Modifieds, including 16 since 2012. Preece won the track championship in 2011, but has finished second the last two seasons by two points, or one position on the track.
“I’m ready, everybody on that team is ready,” Preece said. “It’s going to be a great deal and it’s basically kind of running out of my house now and trying to keep it close to home and it’s just going to be a good deal, so we’re looking forward to it. Sullivan and Sons, JG Poulin Drywall, NAPA of Canton, and East West Marine, everybody involved in that entire car Mizzy Construction, FK Rod Ends, Sunoco Race Fuels, Hoosier Race Tire, CD Race Chassis and Pettit Racing Engines, everybody involved we’re all looking forward to it and we’re going to put a strong foot forward and try to do what we’ve done in years past.”
Preece said he would return to the Moniz No. 31 at Thompson.
“I plan on doing everything that my schedule allows me to do,” Preece said. “I’m 100 percent in.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com