JTG Daugherty Racing announced Monday that former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece will be getting a new number and crew chief for the 2020 Cup Series season.
Preece will move from the No. 47 car to the No. 37 in the JTG Daugherty stable.
Preece replaces Chris Buescher in the No. 37 JTG Daugherty ride. Preece’s new teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will take over the No. 47 ride for the organization.
Preece will also welcome a new crew chief with move, joining Trent Owens, who was the crew chief for Buescher last year. Owens will be entering his fourth year as the crew chief for the No. 37 car with the team.
“Trent is a veteran at our organization leading the charge on the No. 37 car for the past three seasons,” team owner Tad Geschickter said in a release from JTG Daugherty Racing. “He elevated a young driver in his second year in the series to consistently running in the top 15, and we have high expectations that he will be a great fit with Ryan Preece next year in his sophomore season.”
Preece finished 26th in the Cup Series standings in 2019 as a rookie, with one top-five and three top-10 finishes in 36 starts working with crew chiefs Tristan Smith and Eddie Pardue.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Trent Owens this upcoming season,” Preece said. “Our teams worked closely together in 2019. It was impressive to see what he’s done with the No. 37 team the last three years. I really want to continue building on that and bringing both cars into the top 15 regularly next year.”
Stenhouse arrives to the organization bringing with him crew chief Brian Pattie. The pair worked together the last three seasons at Roush Fenway Racing.
“I’m very grateful to have Brian join me at JTG Daugherty Racing next season,” Stenhouse said. “Working together the past several seasons, our relationship away from the track has really developed and I know that will speed up the process of getting familiar and plugged into the team as quick as possible. He knows what I’m looking for and I know what he expects from me. This team is a great fit for both of us, and we’re looking forward to contributing to the success JTG Daugherty Racing has been building.”
Pattie has 16 years under his belt as a Cup Series crew chief with six career victories.
“We’re really looking forward to welcoming Brian Pattie to JTG Daugherty Racing,” Geschickter said. “With Brian’s veteran experience and knowledge at NASCAR’s premier level, we know he is going to be a great asset to the organization and work well with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.”
Most likely for the better, however the number 47 has sentimental meaning to us New Englanders.
Great ! My Shirt Is Already Outdated! LOL That Is Kind Of A Promotion. I Think He’ll Have A Better Year In The Number 1 Car Out Of The Stable .Go “Preece Lightin”!!
Always thought the 47was the number one car in stable and would think it still is with Stenhouse and Pattie
Based on the #37’s performance last season, this may be better for him. Yes the 47 is sentimental here in New England. Stenthouse and Pattie will be a good addition to JTG overall.
I’m not going to apologize for it. I’m a drooling, slobbering Preece fan. I thought he had a successful first year in many respects with some notable finishes. Seeing his return to race a modified in one off opens as well as the NWMT races is endearing. Especially since he’s wrenching on the car to get it ready and driving it to races in his vintage hauler. Vintage hauler or not how do you not love that stuff?
I don’t know if JTG has a number one car. It’s pretty clear that Stenhouse who has won races and was rookie of the year is in decline. At best this is a lateral move for him and his crew chief. For Ryan he gets the crew chief that got Buescher to the next rung up in the food chain. The pressure is on to show improvement from higher finishes to lower DNF’s. The great news is he has made it to his second year and a chance at better results. The younger, second year up and comer while Stenhouse in many respects is just trying to stay in the series. Preece get’s all the benefits Cup drivers get from pay, to benefits, endorsement opportunities and all the rest. It legitimizes he career choice in an industry littered with broken dreams.
I’ll be rooting for you big guy.
Great.
Now we need to figure out how and why the Cup cars can have such huge differences in performance even though they are effectively SPEC or crate powered with the horsepower packages. Some are clearly more equal than others.
I probably shouldn’t do this BUT…. Without even getting into the SPEC reference, the teams with the most money are “more equal” than the others. “Speed (and horsepower) costs money, how fast do you want to go?”
Banjo Matthews speed shop said it best ( were money buys speed) more true now than then
Cup series top ten ownership.
Gibbs, Gibbs, Stewart Haas, Gibbs, Penske, Ganassi, Penske, Penske, Stewart Haas, Hendrick.
My question: were there someone like Henry Ford II that backed Shelby with unlimited resources to go out and win Le Mans to back an unknown with unlimited resources. Could that team with no connection to the Cup series win the Cup championship. OR do a hand full of teams have a monopoly on not just money but the technology that makes guys like Kulwicki and Craven completely impossible at this time. And if that’s the case is the monopoly a reason why the Cup series is losing interest? It’s all Goliath’s at this point and the Davids are buried so far back in the field we all forget about them. Like Ryan Preece.
I think the closest we’ve seen to Doug’s description most recently was Martin Truex and the Furniture Row #78, although many of their people were from the NASCAR world. However, even after winning the championship,they couldn’t keep going without additional sponsorship which never materialized. I used to think you needed “cubic dollars”, but now you need trailer loads full of pallets of cubic dollars to be successful at the top levels of racing.
Seasons greetings Doug!
Just some off season racing conversation if I may.
Interesting question. But, for me, I think it’s obvious it’s all Goliath’s. There is no question, as others have already stated, and I agree, how fast you want to go, all depends on how much money you have to spend. At Cup level, you have to have a “kings ransom”. The top level cars are so close, it’s like watching the old IROC series. It’s just a matter of who has the fastest car in the “top” Haas,hendrick, penske, gibbs or ganassi stable on any given week. (as you noted!) For me, the only exception to that rule are the restrictor plate tracks, due to the attrition rates, and who can avoid the big ones (see ryan preece, and that is not a slam, as you have to be there at the end)
I got to thinking about your top ten owner list Doug. Who would have thought, that in a relatively short 15 years, that Rousch or Childress would not even be considered in that list. Difficult to keep up$$$!
The size of the full time staffs, r&d, ect, that the handful of top owners posses, makes it tough for anybody, even those with “affiliations” to robustly compete. With that being said, I am in a slight “”awe” of the results of what Barney Visser did with Furniture Row, and Martin Truex. And yet, and I realize Visser’s health was an issue, they had to walk away.
So Doug, we have both stated before on more than one occasion, we are fans of Preece, and would like nothing better than to see him do well at the Cup level. My feeling is, the announcement of Preece in the 37 with Owens as crew chief, means that Ryan has been silently put on notice that his results have to be much better next year. Or……(fill in the blank)
Unfair comparison to 2019 #37 results? Maybe. But no one said this game is fair or easy. Just business.
I still stand by my statement to you back in july or august when we kicked around Ryan’s performance up to mid season, that in order for Preece to get to the next Cup level, he has to hit the lottery. Again, don”t get me wrong, that is no way a slam on his obvious talents. It just in my mind, answers the “Goliath “ question. Because if he were to come up with appropriate money, (not that anyone should have to ) given the state of the Cup level of the sport, and what it takes to be a legitimate threat to win every race, would he be wise to start his own operation, or put it in one of the established Goliaths, to achieve success quicker? Of course, that could change if he can somehow win more than one this season in “non Goliath” equipment……JMO
Happy New Year as well, to all.
Our postings must have crossed at the same time Fast Eddie. Spot on with the 78. As you can see, I totally agree.
Let’s face it Bob last year we were shooting in the dark. This year much less. Being unimaginative I’d predict Preece to come in at 20th merely because Buescher did. Taking all we know now Bob I’d ask you if you’re in the mood to make a prediction on Ryan’s second year at the big dance?
Season’s greetings to you as well.
Doug;
Think it gets back to what we all suspected from the get go. And that is, Jtg is not gibbs (5 cars with the 95 as far as I’m concerned), nor are they Hendrick (4 cars) or Penske (2 cars, and if you want to include the 21, 3 cars) Ganassi (2 cars) Haas (4 cars) which I feel all have more cutting edge equipment and personnel than JTG at this point.
I think the JTG stuff is probably on par, or a tic better than Rousch, and Childress.
So week in and week out, I think Ryan is probably going to average at seasons end, between 18th to 22nd. Occasion blips for restrictor plate races, if he stays out of trouble, if others get into it.
We have already seen, that he is extremely competitive in good equipment, in Xfinity series.
Sure, different at cup level, but I think he could do the same in good equipment at cup level, and be a top 6 threat every week.
My concern now is, he may have only a year left to make a mark in the top series, somehow, in JTG cars.
I view Ryan as getting “old” (I know, right?) to be able to get a deal in a top organization on merit alone. These guys at the top organizations are grabbing “kids” to move on up. A new generation. Time marches on. I believe your prediction to be spot on. I think even if he and Owens “gels” , it may make a difference of a couple of positions on track here and there. I think driver is probably better than the organization he is in, as a whole. On the plus side, at least JTG saw something in Ryan, to give him more than a 1 year shot. I have to give JTG credit for that.
Roush had the 15th and 23th place cars so they appear to be a tick better then JTG. Childress at 21 and 25 is a push.
When you say Preece is old he may be but he’s younger then Stenhouse anyway. Stenhouse and his crew chief as far as I can see are the ones drifting toward irrelevance.
When you say Ryan only has a limited window and JTG gets an atta boy for giving him a second year I’m not saying you’re wrong so much as hoping you’re wrong. I don’t know it to be the case but am hoping the JTG ownership was impressed that Preece on a few occasions made the absolute best of the opportunities presented. I’m hoping they know where they are in the pecking order, know Preece pretty much met expectations except for the DNF’s and they have actually promoted him. I’m hoping they value his ability to work well in their organization and that he is first rate in his ability to find and work with sponsors. I’m hoping that there is a place for such a journeyman driver doing as expected given the equipment provided and that failure to perform miracles is not a basis for termination. Again don’t know it’s true, hope it is.
You opened my eyes on a couple things Bob. One, stop making predictions with rose colored glasses. Two, having the 20th and 26th place cars is a bunch better then all those other teams going to all the races that are mired way, way back with no hope of ever seeing a top 10 under any circumstance.
My final observation concerns mojo. The same teams have the mojo as a team and it’s so uniform it’s wrecking the sport. I define mojo as the fractional percentage of expertise and attention to detail that some teams can’t attain or don’t have the money to purchase. Where I disagree with the train of thought here is it’s not all about money although money is a part of it. It’s proprietary knowledge that some teams have that others will never have access to regardless of how much money they have. I think NASCAR is addicted to the plantation system that they have now that allowed a limited number of teams to have a monopoly on mojo.
For whatever reason NASCAR is not willing to break up the strangle hold on who has access to the mojo and/or won’t lessen the impact of the mojo that exists.. So we’ll go another year with the drivers of the same teams competing with the drivers of one or two other teams and get bored to death with only “the big one” shuffling the deck to any degree.
Were I a true Preece fan I’d watch him competing in the 18th to 28th zone and root for him knowing the cards are stacked a certain way and that only so much can be expected. But I don’t. If he’s not cracking 15th to 18th spot I’m onto Green Acres and the lovely Lisa and her hots cakes.
I have to say, your observations here are pretty much spot on.
Being a fan, I tune in mostly, to see how Ryan is doing, and that is not often easy, as the media focuses so much on the top 10 for the most part.
My expectations are tempered with, “I hope he and Owens hit on something”, so he shows better overall results. So on to next year, and we shall see!
Speaking of next year, Happy New Year!
Unless Owens and Preece hit on some Hendricks/JGR like power, nothing much is going to change. Preece is darn good, and a waste of incredible talent and representation. Put Preece in the 18 car… that would be a huge improvement. Preece can drive and he’s likable.
It would be nice dareal
But, its just so impossible to break into those teams, without either a ton of dough, sponsorship, or some kind of lucky charm it seems. I’m just not sure what it would take from Ryan, more than what he is currently capable of at JTG, to get a top team to notice, because any open seat carries such a premium.