By Matthew Thomerson/TheFourthTurn.com
NORTH WILKESBORO, NC – Ryan Preece is looking to make the Chase, and North Wilkesboro Speedway could be just the track to assist in that effort.
Preece, who is in his second year driving full-time in the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing No. 60 Ford, is in a fierce points battle as the NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season nears its conclusion. With just six races to go, Preece sits 18th in the standings 26 points out with three top-10 finishes on the season, most recently at Sonoma Raceway.
For the former modified champion turned Cup driver, 18th is not the ideal spot. Especially when factoring in Preece sat 13th in the standings after Talladega, but a 25-point penalty at Texas after an incident with Ty Gibbs ridded all momentum.
Preece went on to have a nine-race skid with no top-10 finishes and just four races inside the top-20. Since then, things haven’t gotten much better with a 32nd at Chicagoland Speedway and a 24th at EchoPark Speedway.
RFK Racing collectively has just one car above the Chase cutoff, as Chris Buescher sits seventh. What Preece does have on his side is what made him known and successful in his early racing career: short tracks.
Anytime the sport heads to a short oval, Preece is usually a favorite and has shown that in recent results. It was Preece who showed up at Bowman Gray Stadium in February and showed great long-run pace when many in the field struggled. He went on to win that race, giving him his first NASCAR Cup Series victory, albeit not a points win.
After the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, there are three short ovals that still remain: Iowa, Richmond, and New Hampshire, all tracks the RFK driver has shown great speed. Preece even has a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Iowa that he earned in 2017. For Preece, this is a pivotal time to try to build up the points to make a last-ditch run for a spot in the top-16.
“You know when I look at Iowa, New Hampshire, North Wilkesboro, these are all places that I feel like you can change the way you drive to help your car,” Preece said. “Just throughout the course of a long run, so that’s something I look forward to doing. When you go to mile-and-a-halfs, there’s a little bit less so this just kind of seems like hopefully we get some practice, kinda get an idea where our cars at and go from there.”
Usually at this point in the Regular Season, as crunch time approaches, some teams rise, while others fall. So does Preece feel the pressure to execute this weekend given his team’s points situation?
“I mean, there’s pressure every week,” Preece said. “I think that’s just the name of the game, you know. If I showed up to North Wilkesboro and said, ‘I just want to run 20th,’ I don’t think they’d wanna hire me, so I feel like when we come to places like this I make sure I do everything I know how to do to take care of the tires, and that’s what we got to do.”
If Preece can avoid the carnage at Daytona or Indianapolis, and run to his mean at the short ovals left, he will have a shot to get into the Chase come September.
Preece and the remaining cast of NASCAR Cup Series stars will be taking on North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on TNT, followed by green flag action shortly after 7 p.m.
Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com
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