DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –— When he came to the Daytona 500 last year, past NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece was a relative unknown trying to make his way into the NASCAR Cup Series.
An eighth-place finish in the biggest stock-car race in the world opened people’s eyes quickly as to who the Berlin, Conn., native was, and as he makes his return to The Great American Race this weekend, Preece is aiming bigger.
Moving over from JTG-Daugherty Racing’s No. 47 Chevrolet to the sister No. 37 entry, the 29-year-old has a little bit different scenery this year.
However, he comes into race week optimistic about the organizational gains the team has shown over the offseason and hopes to carry that positive momentum into the new Cup Series campaign.
“Obviously, our team has a lot more speed than we’ve had, particularly from when I was here last year,” Preece told SPEED SPORT. “There have been a lot of gains that have been made through the offseason, thanks to the new Chevrolet body that has been put into place this year. I’m really excited about it. But it’s not just about the new body; it’s also because of JTG Daugherty’s hard work and guidance from everyone there.
“I’m really excited going into the Daytona 500, knowing what we have and the speed that we have,” he added. “It’s really exciting stuff.”
The speed that JTG-Daugherty has was on full display during last Sunday’s qualifying session, when Preece’s teammate – two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – raced to the Busch Pole Award for the Daytona 500 with a blistering lap of 46.253 seconds (194.582 mph).
While Preece was a bit off that mark, landing 17th on the qualifying charts Sunday, his spirits were still buoyed by the mark his teammate posted. He believes it could be a sign that JTG-Daugherty will be a team to watch if they can make it to the end on Sunday afternoon.
“It was good (for Stenhouse to get the pole); that’s awesome. We knew that he had a lot of speed in practice and we felt really good about our car, too,” Preece relayed. “It’s really exciting to know that you can play some offense, for sure, and all the hard work we put in and that went on during the offseason is paying off.
“As far as Sunday goes, after what we saw in qualifying, why couldn’t we win? Our organization qualified on the pole for the Daytona 500,” Preece added. “It shows that we made a lot of gains from where we were last year in single-car speed. So, do I feel like if everything worked out, do I think we could win? Yeah, I feel like we could.”
It’s not just brash confidence that Preece is displaying, either. His belief in success is an inherent quality that he’s carried with him since his earliest short track days.
Preece sets the bar high because, in his estimation, there’s no other place to put his expectations.
“I have high expectations all the time, especially what we saw there. A lot of people try to manage their expectations. I think if you aim low, you’re going to finish low. If you aim high, you’re going to finish high. Last year was a learning year, for sure. I’m really excited about being on the side with Trent Owens, the guidance of Trent and everybody over there. It’s exciting, so I have high expectations.”
Those goals begin this weekend, but will quickly shift to the West Coast swing after the conclusion of the Daytona 500, and Preece is just as excited to see how his team stacks up in a traditional intermediate-track race as he is to go out and take a shot at winning the Harley J. Earl Trophy.
“When we go into Vegas, I’m excited to see the gains we’ve hopefully made with our 1.5-mile program, so that we really know where we’re at, what we’re dealing with and the gains we need to make,” said Preece. “I feel like we could be a team that can definitely contend to make the playoffs and win some races.
“That starts at Daytona on Sunday, and if everything works out in our favor, hopefully we can be in the mix.”
The 62nd annual Daytona 500 takes the green flag Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.