FANTASY NASCAR Racin

an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, driving the #6 Chevrolet for TS Haulers Racing, along with part-time in the Xfinity Series. Preece began racing in 2007 in the Northeastern Midget Association with the Bertrand team. A year later he finished on the podium for the first time in his career with a third place at Monadnock in his only Northeastern Midget race that year. That same year he got his first career victory in the Whelen Modified Tour after dominating the Made In America Whelen 300 at Martinsville. He made his debut in the Nationwide Series in 2013 and finished 24th in the CNBC Prime's "The Profit" 200 at Loudon driving the #8 Chevrolet Camaro for Tommy Baldwin Racing. In 2014, he drove two races driving the #36 Camaro for TBR (at Loudon and Homestead), with a best finish of 14th. On August 8, 2015,

Preece announced he would make his Cup Series debut for TBR at Loudon. Preece drove the #98 Chevy out of the TBR shop in partnership with Premium Motorsports. After starting 37th, he finished 32nd in the Sylvania 300. He ran four other Cup races with little success. He signed with Johnny Davis and JD Motorsports to compete full time in the Xfinity series in 2016. With very little full bodied stock car experience under his belt; he had an unimpressive showing. He had only one Top 10 finish on the season and 13 Top 20's in 33 starts. He finished 17th in points. Preece knew he had the talent to compete in the upper divisions of NASCAR if he only had as good of equipment as the top drivers. After running all of 2016 for an under

funded team; and getting dismal results he decided to try a different route. He worked to acquire sponsorship money so he could race. But instead of taking that money and running as many races as possible with lower level teams; he put all his eggs in one basket and approached Joe Gibbs about driving a couple races in his race cars. The first start for Gibbs came at New Hampshire. Preece ran up front with all the Cup stars all day; and when the checkered flag flew the only person he didn't beat was Kyle Busch. It was an impressive second place finish in his first attempt in competitive equipment. His second start with Gibbs came at Iowa. He and Justin Allgaier battled for the lead most of the day; and when it was all over Preece had led 59 laps and grabbed the victory. He also ran an additional two

races before the season ended and posted a fourth and fifth place finish in those events. Needless to say Ryan opened some eyes with his impressive runs; and also the guts to take a chance to showcase his talents by pooling all his sponsorship dollars into just a couple races. Meanwhile in 2017 Preece continued to race in the NASCAR Whelen Modified tour. He only ran 14 of the 16 races; but still finished sixth in points. He posted five wins along with 12 Top 5's. As we rolled in 2018 Joe Gibbs signed Brandon Jones to drive for him full time in the Xfinity series. Many feel this is a bad move on Gibb's part as Preece has had much more positive results in just four races than Jones had in a whole season. Preece was able to get a part time ride with Gibbs. Preece ran 15 races for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018; sharing the ride with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, and Erik Jones. In those 15 starts he had one win, seven Top 5's and 10 Top 10's. Since Gibbs didn't

put him in a car; Preece was offered a full time Cup Ride for 2019 by JTG Daugherty Racing. He replaced AJ Allmendinger in the #47 ride. Preece had a spirited battle with Daniel Hemric for 2019 Rookie of the Year honors. Both had one Top 5 finish. Preece had three Top 10's; while Hemric only had two. It was a tight battle and it appears average starting and finishing positions for the season may have determined the winner. Hemric had an average start of 18.1, while Preece's was 26.3. Average finish saw Hemric have an average of 22.5, while Preece had an averag of 24.8. Preece started off the season with an eighth place finish; and added a third at Talladega. He had a seventh place finish at Michigan for his only three Top 10's of the year. As the season wound down he showed improvement the second time the series visited the various tracks. The final eight race he had no finish worse

than 26th and had four inside the top 20. Preece confirmed in August that he would drive the #37 in the 2020 season. Preece had about the same results in 2020 as he had in 2019. He only had two Top 10 finishes as he posted a ninth at Bristol and a tenth at Talladega. There was talk that the team may get someone else to drive the #37 for 2021; but Preece kept his ride. Preece ran all the 2021 season without benefit of a Charter to guarantee himself into every race. He got off to a good start with a sixth place finish in the Daytona 500; and followed that with a ninth on the Daytona Road Course. When the series returned to Daytona, he finished fourth. He added an eighth at Pocono and this was his only Top 10’s of the season. He did have some success in other series. He

made two starts in NASCAR’s Truck series and won at Nashville; while finishing ninth at Pocono. Preece made his name in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and made seven starts there. In those seven starts he collected three wins and a second. For 2022 it was unsure what Preece’s plans would be. He drove for JTG Daugherty Racing and they had announced that since they just have one Charter; they will just race one car. Michael McDowell would wheel that entry. Turns out Preece was hired by Stewart-Haas Racing to be the teams "reserve" driver in 2022. Preece

spent 2022 performing simulator work that benefitted the entire team and its Cup Series driver lineup of Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer. In addition to his simulator work at the Ford Performance Center, Preece run a mix of races across each of NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck. Things at the beginning of 2022 seemed to be all in order. They had Preece as a reserve driver; and Almirola had announced he was going to retire at the end of 2022. So,

plans were already laid out. By mid-season Almirola's sponsor, and a series of good runs, had convinced him to race in the Cup series an additional year. This left SHR in a bind as they now had five drivers for only four cars. Cole Custer had struggled all year; and Tony Stewart was high on moving Preece up to the Cup ranks. A late season surge by Custer made that decision a problem. But in the end the team announced, "Ryan Preece has been a real asset to our race team this year as we’ve developed the NextGen car. The time and effort he’s put into our program, combined with his real-world racing experience, earned him this opportunity". In his time behind the wheel of a race car in 2022; Preece made ten Truck series starts, and claimed a win at Nashville. In his ten starts he had seven top five and nine top ten finishes. In the Xfinity

Series he made three starts with a best finish of fifth at Charlotte. He made two Cup starts for the under-funded Rick Ware team. It was expected Preece would be competitive in the SHR Cup equipment in 2023 as he runs full time. Preece made a name for himself on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – NASCAR’s oldest division and the only open-wheel series sanctioned by NASCAR. Preece won the Tour championship in 2013 and worked hard to leverage that title into additional opportunities in

NASCAR's three premier series. Preece returned to the #41 Ford in 2023. Stewart-Haas continued to struggle as the first season the entire team did not claim a win since it’s creation. They had two finishes of second place for a season best. Kevin Harvick was second at Darlington, and Aric Almirola was second at Martinsville. Oddly enough both drivers retired at the end of the season. In Preece’s return to the Cup series he had a best finish of fifth at Richmond. He added two top tens, coming home eighth at Talladega. He had several finishes just outside the top ten and he finished inside the top 15 on twelve occasions. He will be back at the controls of the #41 in 2024 as SHR tries to right the ship and get back on the winning track. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

RYAN JEFFERY PREECE - 10/25/1990