(Press Release from JD Motorsports)
Ryan Preece (Photo: JD Motorsports)
Ryan Preece is set for his first Xfinity Series race – Saturday’s Axalta 200 – at Phoenix International Raceway.
Preece is coming off his best finish – 18th last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – of the young Xfinity season.
“We’ve shown pretty good progress the past two races (22nd at Atlanta the previous week),” Preece said. “There’s no reason we can’t do that at Phoenix, too. I haven’t raced there, but I’m sure we’ll have a good car.”
Preece will be in the JD Motorsports with Gary Keller No. 01 Chevrolet.
He is 18th in the early-season Xfinity driver points.
Activities will begin at Phoenix Friday with Xfinity practice sessions scheduled at 11:30 a.m. (ET), 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Qualifying is scheduled at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, with the race to follow at 2:30 p.m.
Can only get better
I’m not the biggest Ryan Preece fan, but I must admit, him racing in the Xfinity series has me tuning in more than normal. He’s improved from nearly last place at Daytona to 23rd to 18th last week. It’s a great opportunity for him. I hope he does well. Go Ryan!!!!!
I must
First off, this is in no way a shot at Ryan, my complaint is with the Xfinity series. Ryan is logging laps, gaining experience, and probably having a blast traveling to a different track every week. After Phoenix he is 17th in points, and if not for a cut tire at Daytona probably two or three spots higher. Respectable start, especially considering the top 10 in points are all Gibbs, JR, Childress, Roush, and Ganassi drivers, with more resources and better equipment. I remember a quote from Clint Bowyer years ago when he was with Childress, and Gibbs cars were dominating race after race…. “even a monkey could drive that 20 car”.
This is supposed to be a developmental series, and that being said, why does Nascar let cup regulars enter and dominate every race? Does anyone enjoy watching them win race after race? Does it put fans in the seats? If I was every going to attend an Xfinity race, I would much rather watch the Jones’es (Erik and Brandon), Wallace, Suarez, Ty Dillon, Reed, Poole and others mix it up, rather than Kyle Busch lead 80% of the laps and win. All of the young drivers start in the back half of the field, and if the race starts with a long green flag run…. they are 1 or 2 laps down before they even get to pit. Other than staying out of the leaders way, how much do they learn? Some of these races I’ve seen, to put the cup champion on the front row, in the best equipment….. against young drivers just starting out would be like the 86 Celtics (insert 97 Bulls or 16 Warriors if you are younger than me) against a high school team.
I think Nascar should limit the number of Xfinity starts a cup driver can make in a season, say maybe 2 or 3. The last big change was cup drivers earning no points… but that didn’t improve the racing one bit.