Rolling Revolution: Ryan Preece Keeps Up Torrid Pace In SK Modified Division At Stafford

STAFFORD – Spin to win, it’s not just a cliché, it’s become a way of life this year at Stafford Motor Speedway for Ryan Preece.

Ryan Preece celebrates his fifth SK Modified victory of 2013 at Stafford Speedway on Friday (Photo: Stephanie Kimball/Stafford Speedway)

Friday, for the third time in less than a month, Preece was able to go spinning on track and still celebrate victory when all was said and done.

Preece won the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified feature at Stafford Friday.

It was the fifth victory in eight SK Modified events this year at Stafford for Preece, the hottest driver in Modified racing of late.

Woody Pitkat of Stafford was second and Eric Berndt of Rocky Hill third.

In addition to his five wins at Stafford, Preece has also won three of five events this year on the Whelen Modified Tour. He also has an SK Modified victory at Thompson International Speedway and a Tour Type Modified division victory at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway.

On June 14 Preece spun in both the SK Modified event and Whelen Modified Tour event at Stafford and rallied to win both races.

Friday Preece didn’t have to rally, just hold his spot. Preece was running third behind leader Keith Rocco and Todd Owen on lap 14 when Rocco spun, collecting Owen. Preece also spun on the frontstretch during the incident, but because he didn’t lose forward momentum, he was not considered to be involved in the incident and inherited the lead.

“I said to one of my buddies who does prayer with me every time before a race, he said ‘You’ve got to spin tonight to win.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’” Preece said. “Well, apparently we did on the frontstretch, but we made it work. This car was awesome.”

After the spin, nobody had anything for Preece, who left Pitkat deep behind him over the late stages of the event.

“He’s on, what are you going to do?,” Pitkat said. “He’s been on fire. … We’re right there, we’re knocking on the door. We keep being consistent and we’ll win.”