Ryan Preece affixes the winner’s decal to his car after winning the XFINITY Series US Cellular 250 in July at Iowa Speedway (Photo: Daniel Shirey/Getty Images for NASCAR)
In 2017 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Ryan Preece used a limited chance to prove to executives at Joe Gibbs Racing that he has the skills to be successful against the best of the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
And that success has paid off for the Berlin driver.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Preece will be a regular part of the rotating lineup in the team’s third NASCAR XFINITY Series entry in 2018.
Preece will share the ride with Monster Energy Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez.
Preece will make at least 10 starts with the team in 2018. Preece has started three events for the organization’s XFINITY Series team in 2017. He recorded his first career XFINITY Series win for the team on July 29 at Iowa Speedway. He will make his final start of the season for the team in Satuday’s XFINITY Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“Obviously I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities that I have already had with JGR this season and now to be able to increase the number of races next season is a great step in my career,” Preece said. “I’m looking forward to going out there and make the most out of the opportunity.”
Preece, the 2013 Whelen Modified Tour champion, made his first career start in a Joe Gibbs Racing ride on July 15 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where he finished second Busch.
He followed that by winning the US Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway on July 29. He made his third start for the team at Kentucky Speedway on Sept. 23 in the VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300, where he led 22 laps and finished fourth.
Preece tied for the series-high with five Whelen Modified Tour victories in 2017 and finished sixth in the series standings despite only starting 14 of 16 events. He led team owner Ed Partridge to the division’s owner’s championship.
Preece will be making his 40th career Xfinity Series start Saturday at Homestead-Miami. He ran full-time in the XFINITY Series in 2016 year for the underfunded JD Motorsports team. He opted not to run a second season with the team and instead focused on finding selected rides with an upper level organization.
This Is Awsome News. Been Waiting For This News For A Long While Go “Preece Lighting”
Awesome news, congratulations!
Way to stick with it Ryan !!! Congrats !!!
Gives me a reason to be interested in XFinity….
Congratulations Ryan!!! What awesome exciting news!! Take em down 10 races at a time 🏁🐮🔔🐮🔔🐮🔔
This is so Awesome!!! He deserves it!!! We need his Evil Twin to run the tour, Ryan’s the only one that unseat Cold-hearted-Jack-Cheese!
Another Re-Preece!! We all knew you would make it!!!
Great news, go Ryan, you deserve the opportunity! Congrats…………
Great news. He should have got the full time ride in the #19 instead of Brandon jones.
Great news. Go and get em Ryan.
GREAT!!!
Great news congrats he proved he deserved a shot!
Very good news – congrats, it’s well-deserved!!
It’ll be interesting to see how the 10+ races align with the NWMT schedule. Busch and Hamlin can each run a max of only 7 Xfinity races. And they are not allowed to run the Dash4Cash races (April 14 thru May 5), and the final 8 races of the season (Sept 15 through Homestead). So, those are chunks of the Xfinity schedule where Preece is more likely to get a seat. Plus Iowa (Cup is off for Iowa-1 and at Pocono for Iowa-2).
Awesome! Congratulations!
Well done, Race well!
Yes yes yes!!!!! GO PREECE!!! Holy hell this is awesome!!!
Great to hear this news. No better deserving driver than Ryan for a top ride.
Lots more people will be watching TV to see Ryan = more sponsor money
Let’s get those 2 races back at Loudon.
Good luck to Ryan.Hopefully with a good race Saturday and some solid runs next year JGR will sign him full time and put him in some cup races.Looks like I’ll be traveling to some Xfinity races next year.Ryan Preece is the real deal.He doesn’t need to try to be anyone other than himself.It’s like I’ve always said, being a long time Giants fan, the Coach is a standup guy.
If Ryan can do as well next year as he did this year, JGR may want to rethink the schedule. If he comes out with wins, seconds, fourths, & poles, JGR would do well to arrange for more seat time. He could possibly end up in a potential championship run! Y’all go show those Southern and Midwestern folks that Yankees can drive! 🙂 GO RYAN!!!!!!
Not to mention Road America and Mid Ohio where Ryan has done well on with JD Motorsports!
X-finitys gain is the WMT loss. Good Luck Ryan. Well deserved. About time someone gets the ride because of their DRIVING ability, rather then how many dollars he brings to table.
Go Ryan! Rooting for ya this weekend.
Every short tracker should be proud. Preece did it the old school way like Steve park,truex jr to name a few. Best of luck. 🏁
can i get a “Hell Yeah”?
HELL YEAH!!!
Great news, best of luck!!
Good luck on ur new adventure. Hope we will still see u at modifie races
Congratulations Ryan!!!! Such exciting and well-deserved news!!
Im watching……yes sir!!!!!!
That’s my boy!!!! Go out there and run the wheels off that car cuz. Proud of you for everything you have accomplished in your career so far . Live the dream baby. Always remember rubbin is racing, and shaken is bakin .Love ya kid.
Best case scenario for fans that want to see him advance on the national level and want to see him locally. He will likely still be racing the wheels off modifieds in these here parts next year.
best of luck — years ago i was a sponser for your father in law — so i know pits well lol