Preece Racing to Win at Thursday’s Governor’s Cup
High-Quality Field Expected to Try and Fend Off NASCAR Invader
Barre, VT — NASCAR Cup Series star Ryan Preece arrives at Barre’s Thunder Road for the 42nd Essex Equipment Vermont Governor’s Cup this Thursday, July 15. The Berlin, CT native will take on a large field of talented Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model racers defending their turf against the latest NASCAR invader.
Preece will have 150 green-flag laps to figure out the “Nation’s Site of Excitement” and do something drivers like Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Clint Bower, and Ken Schrader have been unable to — take home the victory. He will be in a car prepared by Dale Shaw, a well-known Northeast chassis builder. Dale Shaw Racecars have already taken multiple Late Model wins this year at Thunder Road and with the traveling American-Canadian Tour (ACT). Shaw, a many-time winner with ACT and the NASCAR Busch North Series, will also serve as Preece’s crew chief.
“I guess the pressure’s on, huh?” Preece joked in a recent interview with The Inside Groove. “It makes me super-optimistic going into the race to contend and not ride around. Because I’m sure just like Dale and everybody with the Shaw’s, I want to show up and win. That’s the goal. That’s why I love racing. There’s only one winner — it’s not like other sports where it’s one team versus another team…I’m sure it’s going to be a challenge, but I’m fortunate I have more full-body (racing) experience now than I did five years ago. So, jumping into another full-body car is not nearly as different as it used to be.”
Like many of the previous invaders who have taken on Thunder Road, Preece has limited experience with the track and the type of cars he is racing. He told The Inside Groove that he has attended one Thunder Road race, tagging along with the late Ted Christopher to watch in his early teens. His Late Model experience consists of one start each in a Super Late Model and a Late Model Stock car. Despite this, Preece has chosen not to seek out advice, instead of trusting the abilities of both himself and the Shaw team.
“When I do ask for advice, it puts pre-conceived notions in my head, and I’d rather just kind of wing it on some things,” Preece said. “At the end of the day, a race car is a race car. They all want to go left — it just comes down to setting the car up and making sure I’m comfortable… I’m just going to show up, and I’m confident that the Shaw’s are going to have a really fast race car, and it’s going to come down to me getting the job done.”
The event is the latest stop in the “Summer of Preece” as he races any chance he gets. Preece is in his third full-time season NASCAR Cup season competing for JTG Daugherty Racing with three top-10 finishes. He won his first Camping World Truck Series start at Tennessee’s Nashville Superspeedway on June 18 driving for David Gilliland.
Preece has also kept touch with his Tour-type Modified roots, competing at tracks such as Thompson Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, and Oswego Speedway with longtime car owners Eddie and Connie Partridge. That willingness to race anytime, anywhere has made Preece a well-liked figure among both fans and fellow racers. As such, the Thunder Road community is looking forward to Thursday.
“It’s a pretty cool opportunity,” Graniteville’s Chris Pelkey said. “Ryan Preece is obviously someone we all respect and are able to look up to because of him being a New England guy and the way he’s gotten to where he is. I think everybody has a lot of respect for that. So it’s going to be pretty cool to run against a guy like that, who doesn’t seem like he’s a whole lot different than most of us — he just has been able to take it to the next level.”
The 30-year-old Preece is trying to do something that has not been done in 45 years. The last NASCAR invader to successfully tame the high banks is the late Butch Lindley, who won the 1976 Vermont Milk Bowl as part of the Northern NASCAR circuit. Although Preece’s main goal is to win, he also looked forward to experiencing the track’s atmosphere.
“I’m excited to see all the fans up there, and hopefully it’s a packed house,” Preece told The Inside Groove. “As a racer, that’s something that I enjoy. We were at Road America (with the Cup Series), and the amount of fans that were there — I’ve only felt that type of energy once before, and that was the Daytona 500 in 2020. So I hope a lot of fans come out to support the event, and I’m looking forward to getting out there.”
A full field of Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models is expected at Thursday’s 150-lap showdown. With the event counting for points in the “King of the Road” championship, all the regulars will be there, including two-time champions Jason Corliss and Scott Dragon, multi-time feature winner Kyle Pembroke, top rookie Brandon Lanphear, and perennial title contender Trampas Demers. They’ll be joined by outsiders such as Massachusetts’ Ryan Kuhn who want to take the trophy out of Vermont for the first time since 2009.
At least five former Governor’s Cup winners are anticipated to be in attendance: Corliss, Demers, Dragon, Cody Blake, and Brooks Clark. Drivers who could get their first crown jewel winner’s trophy include Marcel J. Gravel, Stephen Donahue, Brendan Moodie, and Pelkey, whose stepped-up performance this year was punctuated by a victory last Friday night. After two years of running both Thunder Road and the ACT Tour full-time, Pelkey has focused his efforts on Thunder Road this year with excellent results.
“A lot of it’s due to stepping back from the ACT Tour and really being able to focus on one track,” Pelkey said. “We’re not having to rebuild a car every week or think about the next race. Like last Friday, we would have been thinking about heading off to Oxford on Sunday, and so then you’re thinking about what you need to do to the car on Saturday to be ready. It’s just impossible to focus on one place when you’re doing that much racing. The consistency of only racing at one track has really showed what we actually do have.”
The 42nd Essex Equipment Vermont Governor’s Cup at Barre’s Thunder Road goes green this Thursday, July 15 at Barre’s Thunder Road. NASCAR’s Ryan Preece joins the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models in a 150-lap showdown with a 6:30pm post time. Preece will hold an autograph session from 5:30-6:00pm. Fans also get championship action for the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers and RK Miles Street Stocks.
Admission to the Vermont Governor’s Cup is $20 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-12, and $40 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids). Advance tickets are available at www.happsnow.com/event/Thunder-Road-Speedbowl. All Thunder Road events are also live-streamed on FloRacing for those with a monthly or yearly subscription.
For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, media@thunderroadvt.com, or visit www.thunderroadvt.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @ThunderRoadVT. For more information about FloRacing, visit www.FloRacing.com.
<<ATTACHED PHOTO (Preece_200597728.JPG): Ryan Preece, seen here doing burnouts following his NASCAR Truck Series victory on June 18, will make his first career start at Thunder Road on Thursday, July 15. (photo courtesy Ryan Preece Racing)>>
<<ATTACHED PHOTO (Preece_headshot1.JPG): Preece competes full-time on the NASCAR Cup Series for JTG Daughterty racing and is also a multi-time Modified champion. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images photo)>>
<<ATTACHED PHOTO (IMG_5376.JPG): Graniteville’s Christopher Pelkey, who won last Friday’s Late Model event at Thunder Road, is one of the leading contenders to beat Ryan Preece at the Vermont Governor’s Cup. (Buzz Fisher/Creative Outbursts photo)>>