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RYAN PREECE
GEARED UP FOR
STAFFORD NWMT 150 THIS FRIDAY |
Fresh
off of his NASCAR Xfinity Series win driving for Joe
Gibbs Racing in Iowa this past weekend, Ryan Preece
is ready to return to Stafford Motor Speedway in
search of another NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
victory. Preece won the NAPA Spring Sizzler® back in
April and he has finished second and eighth in the
two Modified Touring Series events held at Stafford
this season behind the wheel of Ed Partridge’s #6
T.S. Haulers, Inc. machine. After returning to
Connecticut following his Iowa triumph, Preece has
been busy at work preparing the #6 for the Stafford
150 where he will be seeking his third NWMT win of
the 2017 season and second in a row at Stafford.
“There’s still a few things left to take care of
today, but it’s coming along and we’ll be ready to
go,” said Preece. I think we’ll be good. I’m putting
a little extra effort into this race because it’s
the Whelen Modified Tour and points is what matters.
The plan is to try to win the pole and win the race.
Momentum is kind of on our side right now, we’ve had
some good runs and we’re just going to try to
continue to carry that momentum into Stafford and
this 4-week stretch of races we have on the Tour.”
Preece will also be looking to take the checkered
flag in order to keep himself in the thick of the
NWMT points race. Following his Sizzler triumph back
in April, he was fifth in the standings, 20 points
behind the leader. After missing the Langley race on
May 13th to get married, Preece found himself
outside the top-10 in the standings and 66 points
behind the leader. The next three races leading into
the Stafford 150 have seen Preece win at Thompson,
finish fourth at Riverhead, and second at New
Hampshire and he now sits 6th in the standings, only
39 points out of the championship lead.
“To be honest, a lot of people probably counted us
out right away but I kind of knew we still had a
shot at it as long as we perform like we’ve been
performing, which is contending for wins,” said
Preece. “That’s all we can really do and that’s how
I always race. My job is to win races and that’s why
I race and that’s why Eddie races. We go to contend
for wins and if we can’t win then we figure out a
reason why we didn’t win or we do something that we
need to do differently. I really love racing for
Eddie, he’s my type of guy and we do what we need to
do to win races. I don’t know how many points I’ve
closed in since I missed the Langley race. I believe
I’ve closed the gap down almost in half in the last
3 races so nothing is over by any means. We’ve still
got 9 races left to go and we just have to keep on
going and trying to win races. Anything can happen.”
Prior to the green flag being unfurled on the
Stafford 150 this Friday night, Stafford Speedway
has hosted a total of 123 NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour events, giving teams and drivers a pretty good
idea of what to expect when they turn up at the
Connecticut half-mile facility. But the race
strategy for the Stafford 150 will be all new as
teams will be allowed to change the customary three
tires during the race, but they will only be allowed
to change one tire per pit stop. Another change in
the race format is the implementation of group
qualifying. Drivers will set the order for the group
qualifying session by their times from the first
practice session from 4-4:30pm and teams will have 5
minutes per group to run as many laps as they wish
to set a fast time with the total number of groups
to be set by NASCAR.
“I think [the tire rule] is going to be interesting
and open up some options,” said Preece. “I think the
teams will all do some different things. As a driver
and from a racer’s standpoint, I want three tires
but I think I’m going to have to sit back and really
think what is the smart decision to make and we’ll
see what happens as the race plays out. It’s not
quite the same format of group qualifying as we had
in the Xfinity Series, but I like it. It’s a good
opportunity if people need an extra lap or two to
get their cars to fire off.”
Tickets for the August 4 Stafford 150 are available
and on sale now at the Stafford Speedway Box Office.
Tickets are priced at $35.00 for adult general
admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and
children ages 5 and under are admitted free of
charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved seat
tickets are $37.00 for all ages. All ticket prices
include 10% CT Admission Tax. Stafford Motor
Speedway offers plenty of free parking along with
overnight parking available for self contained
Recreational Vehicles. Stafford’s five NASCAR Whelen
All-American Series divisions will join the NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour cars in feature action.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor
Speedway track office at 860-684-2783
or visit us on the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com. |
Source:
Scott Running /
Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted:
August 1, 2017 |
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