Ryan Preece was wrenching underneath a race car,changing a drive shaft, when the call came in to let him know he'd get another shot in the XFINITY Series.
The 26-year-old Connecticut native has bounced around between the top two national NASCAR series the past two seasons– a five-race stint in the Monster Energy Cup Series in 2015, and a full XFINITY schedule in 2016– after winning the Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2013.
The VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway is aone-off opportunity for Preece in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota Camry– a situation he's familiar with as of late. In his previous two showings for JGR, Preece finished second at New Hampshire and won at Iowa.
Entering Saturday night's race – the first round of the XFINITY Series Playoffs– Preece is a man on a mission and isn't worried about whether the drivers in the field with him are racing for a title.
"The only thing I'm looking ahead at is tomorrow night," Preece said during a Friday press conference. "I have respect for everybody I race, absolutely. I wouldn’t go off wrecking somebody. At the same time, this is my career, and this is my last race, as far as I know."
Earning a full-time XFINITY ride for 2018 is a priority for Preece, who admired the teamwork and communication skills on display in the JGR garage.
However, without a guaranteed seat in the XFINITY Series, Preece's focus will shift back to the Whelen Modified Tour after Kentucky, where he currently holds a 6-point lead in the standings over second-place Doug Coby. Preece has five wins in that series this year as well as 11 top-10 finishes in 12 races.
"I want to win a Whelen Modified championship for my car owner because
But for now, Preece has bigger fish to fry.
"If I go out and win, there’s nothing else I can do," Preece said. "Everything is kind of out of my hands at that point."
Drivers talk about repaved Kentucky Speedway
"There's a fine line getting into (turn) one, but I like the throttle time– that's what I really like about it. One and two is a really fast corner, and then turn three and four is a completely different corner where you've gotta back up your entry. It really brings the driver back into it– you've gotta hit your marks and make sure you're not overdriving."— Preece
"It's not so much the grip as it is when (the car) unhooks, how quick it happens. That's what catches drivers off guard. The intensity of running a lap around old Kentucky versus the new repave, it's full 100 percent different because you're so on edge. ... You've gotta be ahead of it. Other tracks you can play with it, but on the repave, you can be good, good, good and backward– and your day is over. That's the hardest part ... figuring out how hard you can push that."— Daniel Hemric, Richard Childress Racing
"Turn three is still the trickiest part of this track, whether it's repaved or not. When we're racing into that corner, it's always thrown us for a loop. ... It's changed a lot. The new surface is awesome. I think all the drivers would agree it's run, it's really fast, yet kind of on that edge. You have areas where you can get yourself in trouble. I think the teams that figure out how to find grip in those uncomfortable areas are the ones who will have a leg up on everyone else."— Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports
