Ryan Preece (Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images for NASCAR)
LOUDON, N.H. – As the sun set on New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday evening, Ryan Preece lamented a day that emotionally started high, sunk low, and jumped back to high by the end of his long competitive day at the track.
Preece was thrilled with his 14th place finish in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200 in Loudon, but a fifth place run in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Sunoco 100 prior to the Nationwide Series event left him sour.
While there were plenty of folks offering their congratulations to Bobby Santos III after his thrilling last lap pass to win the Sunoco 100, Preece, the reigning Whelen Modified Tour champion, wasn’t one looking to give Santos a pat on the back for a job well done.
Preece, of Berlin, blamed Santos for costing him a chance at victory in the Modified Tour event. Preece, who started second in the race, led 30 laps in the event, second highest to Ron Silk’s 36 laps led.
Preece was leading the race on a lap 96 restart. When the green flag flew Ted Christopher got by Preece to take over the spot and then Preece ended up in a three-wide situation coming off of turn two. A knock from Santos down the backstretch put Preece in the wall.
“I was a little disappointed,” Preece said. “I know there were five laps to go or so, but, I try to treat everybody with respect and really I felt like we were all racing each other. Teddy and I were racing each other hard. I felt like I got used up a little and not really given any room when I got put in the fence.”
“It was definitely Bobby. I know we were three-wide and I don’t know any more than that. It’s very frustrating because that was probably the best car I’ve ever had at New Hampshire. I was just trying to put myself in the right place at the right time and unfortunately, the way that worked out, it completely took me out of the race. It was very frustrating.”
Preece said the move by Santos will not be easily forgotten.
“It’s something I’m going to remember,” Preece said. “I try not to be … , I don’t know how to put it I guess…, but I’m pretty disappointed.”
Preece left Loudon sitting sixth in the Whelen Modified Tour standings, 38 points behind leader Doug Coby, after six of 14 events this year.
Preece was making his second career Nationwide Series start for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the Sta-Green 200. He finished 24th in the same event for Baldwin last year at NHMS.
Saturday he started 22nd and recovered from some early damage to finish 14th.
“The Nationwide aspect of the day, I was happy with the 14th, that’s a top-15 in my second start,” Preece said. “I really felt like we could have had a top-10 if that deal in [turns] one and two didn’t happen where we got some damage. That really caused my car to get really tight coming off [the corners]. We were able to get some tape on it take make it better. But we all worked really well together. … We kept on making gains throughout the entire race and getting it better and better. I was extremely happy.”
Preece is scheduled to make his third career start in the series with Baldwin in the Sept. 5 event at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
“I can’t wait for Richmond to get back in and see what we can do and keep finding my limits with that car,” Preece said.
I’m thinking it was just racing or maybe it’s Bobby that has not forgotten Ryan crashing him out at Louden a few years ago… Hmmmm
FLASHBACK: Loudon a couple years ago, Preece in the 3, Santos in the 4, Preece tries a dive bomb to get under Santos entering 3 and destroys both cars.
Anyone who thinks, or even attempts to cast aspersions, or insinuation, or innuendo that Santos is dirty, is a complete moron.
I was happy to hear Preece finish 14th in the Nationwide Race. I see this as a wonderful thing. If Preece goes far into NASCAR and get’s into the Sprint cup. Then you will have more teams look at the kid. See ware he came from. And then you will have more AAA NASCAR teams take a look at the WMT drivers.
So go show them Preece! Show the NASCAR world that the WMT drivers like your self. Are the best in the world!
WMT should stand for Whaling Modified Tour because there is always “Harpooning ” going on.
I thought of the same thing as Rob and Goodfella, how quickly wonder boy forgets what he did in 2010 (Sept. 18th to be exact)! Took out a half dozen good cars, including Bobby who was the points leader. Start watching around the 8:20 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE9bBum4AdI
Ryan talks a good story but he is far from a clean racer, The only one who believe you Ryan is you.
it seems like its always santos and he never gets sent back do that at riverhead and they send you to the rear
Let’s face it folks , Santos is no longer Mr Clean and has become a much more aggressive driver !
Paul and goodfella….
Did you guys forget this moment?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TSGqlJ93nAo
When he drove in and hit his LR?
TeamGoodfella, what are you trying to say with that video?
They say that gauges don’t lie. The same can be said for video.
And again, what is that video saying?
Santos may not be Mr Clean. What he is is a winner. He is winning a lot more races now that he has gotten a little more aggressive.
really getting sick of drivers talking about contact or bad outcomes from 3 wide racing… I like Preece and I like Santos even more but complaining about other drivers at this level wont get you to the penthouse (big time NASCAR racing). you are driving a mid pack nationwide car… not trying to hurt your feelings but its a fact. you are fortunate to have a very strong SK at Stafford and the expectations this year on the tour are lacking…..do your talking on the racetrack and if you have an issue with another driver speak to him in person. stop whining on social media ..its embarrassing ..Good luck to you and your teams the rest of the year ..
Let me be the first to congratulate BOTH drivers on their efforts this weekend. Now onto the popular discussion in regards to contact between 44 and 16 during the WMT race: The difference between the incidents from 2010 and this past Saturday was that before contact was made in 2010, the 3 jumped on the brakes (smoke evident) which jolted his RF into the LR of the 4. I’ve made that mistake before as well – it happens. Mind you, it was a mistake that the driver took responsibilty for on live TV as well as an attempt to avoid contact that while ultimately failed, is not that same as the dive bombing which would have shown contact between the RS bar or the RR of the 3 into the LF of the 4. What happened Saturday was contact in which no attempts were made to avoid it. On the other side of the coin, the car on the receiving end wasn’t trashed. Both incidents, while leaving bad tastes in some mouths, can be summed up to racing deals – plain and simple. Both drivers will probably admit to becoming more aggressive since 2010, but in my opinion, anyone who goes out of their way to say either of those drivers are dirty drivers either have their heads up their arses, are sick of getting beat by them, or all of the above (which is probably the case and might explain the fake usernames) #wirelesswarriors
Miss da Old Days of Racing .. We’ll said
Nobody is a Mr. Clean, but Santos is the best that has happened to Modified racing in many years.
Preece did a good job of running with the “regular” Nationwide rookies.