SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – Ryan Preece held off Chuck Hossfeld and Burt Myers in a seven-lap dash to the finish to win Saturday’s 99-lap SMART Modified Tour race at South Boston Speedway.
The race was one of the headline events of Saturday’s Pocono Organics’ CBD Day At The Races at the four-tenths-mile paved oval.
Preece, from Berlin, Conn., got the advantage on the last restart and pulled away from his challengers, crossing the finish line .473 seconds ahead of Hossfeld to earn his second tour-type modified win of the season in his fifth start.
The win was Preece’s second modified victory at South Boston Speedway. His previous win at South Boston came in 2015.
“We had a really good race car,” Preece pointed out. “This is probably the best this car has ever been. It wasn’t easy. The 17 (Hossfeld) was real fast. Burt was real fast. There were a lot of cars that I ended up having to race throughout the race. We made the right adjustments on the pit stop. We were able to get the lead and control it from there out.”
Burt Myers finished third, Dennis Holdren of Roanoke, Va., finished fourth and Jason Myers of Walnut Cove, N.C. rounded out the top five.
Zach Brewer, Jimmy Wallace, J.R. Bertuccio, James Civali and John Smith closed the top 10.
Preece, who drives the No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for JTG-Daugherty Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, led all but eight laps of the 99-lap race that was slowed by nine caution flags and one red flag.
He led the first 49 laps, passed Hossfeld for the top spot on lap 58, and led the rest of the race.
NASCAR Hall Of Famer Bobby Labonte finished 17th in the 23-car field after being sidelined in one of the many mishaps in the race.
SMART Modified Tour driver Tim Bown was injured in an incident that occurred near the mid-point of the race.
Brown was extricated from his race car, was alert at the time and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He remains alert, in good condition and all injuries are non-life-threatening, as of Saturday night.
The finish:
1. 6-Ryan Preece; 2. 17-Chuck Hossfeld; 3. 1-Burt Myers; 4. 7-Dennis Holdren; 5. 4-Jason Myers; 6. 31-Zach Brewer; 7. 22-Jimmy Wallace; 8. 21-J.R. Bertuccio; 9. 79-James Civali; 10. 24-John Smith; 11. 18-Daniel Yates; 12. 3-Danny Probst; 13. 76-Brian Weber; 14. 5-Tom Buzze; 15. 15-Brian Loftin; 16. 55-Jeremy Gertsner; 17. 25-Bobby Labonte; 18. 48-Jon Kieven; 19. 2-Brandon Ward; 20. 8-Chris Finocchario; 21. 83-Tim Brown; 22. 40-Frank Fleming; 23. 92-Brodie Jones.