Ryan Preece Scores First Career Victory at Iowa Speedway
Ryan Preece Scores First Career Victory at Iowa Speedway. (submitted photo)
Former NASCAR Next driver wins in overtime
NEWTON, Iowa (July 29, 2017) – Ryan Preece bet on himself and won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Sure, the 26-year-old driver didn’t win the race at Loudon, NH but he made a loud statement that he deserved a good ride in NASCAR. In Preece’s first start with Joe Gibbs Racing, he scored a career-best result at his home track with a runner-up finish to Kyle Busch.
Today the gamble paid off for the former NASCAR Next driver. Preece survived a green-white-checkered finish to win the NASCAR XFINITY Series U.S. Cellular 250 presented by American Ethanol at Iowa Speedway for his first career victory.
The 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion made headlines last December when he walked away from a second full-time NASCAR XFINITY Series season with JD Motorsports, and instead returned to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour where he’s become a cult legend over the past decade.
“To be honest with you, I believed in myself enough to do it,” Preece said of his choice to funnel his 2017 XFINITY Series resources into a two-race stint with JGR. “It is very risky. I had multiple people in the business tell me that it was a little (riskier) than they would do.”
Preece made the second of his two scheduled starts for JGR Saturday at Iowa Speedway. The Sukup “First in the Field” award winner led the field to the green flag which was his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series pole position start.
Preece led all 60 laps in Stage 1. Justin Allgaier held off Preece by less than 0.2 seconds for the Stage 2 victory. But in the end, Preece edged his JGR teammate Kyle Benjamin for the win in overtime. Preece, led 141 total laps, on his way to Casey’s General Store’s Victory Lane.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said Preece. “This is what emotion feels like.”
While saying goodbye to the 2017 racing season is tough to do, we’re excited about 2018! Next year’s schedule again features two exciting NASCAR weekends, including the preferred pairing of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Iowa 200 with the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen on June 16-17. The NASCAR K&N Pro Series Casey’s General Store 150 presented by Vatterott College and NASCAR XFINITY Series U.S. Cellular 250 will return to the Fastest Short Track on the Planet on July 27-28, their traditional weekend.
