By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
For one of the most accomplished short track racers in the Cup Series, Ryan Preece had his work cut out for him in three of the last four race weekends.
During the most condensed section of short tracks on the schedule in 2019, Preece managed some of his top results of the season thus far.
Finishing 16th at Martinsville Speedway in March, a 25th at Bristol was followed by a 20th-place result Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
And though a 20th doesn’t hold much weight with most teams (even those of mid-pack status) the weekend was a push in the right direction for JTG Daugherty Racing as a whole.
Chris Buescher ran the team’s best run of the year thus far, starting seventh and running top five during the first stage of the Toyota Owners 400. Solid in the top 10 most of the night, an unscheduled stop ended his strong run 22nd.
That advanced Preece into the leading position with JTG, running 25th at the halfway point and 24th on average across 400 laps. The final stage saw Preece jump to finish 20th.
Though the night could have been more, the result was only Preece’s second top-20 finish since the season-opening Daytona 500, where he finished career-high eighth.
With a week off for Easter break, Preece will make his first Cup start a Talladega Superspeedway.
Catch up on Mid-Pack with Zach HERE
List of 20th-Place Finishers in 2019
Daytona: Clint Bowyer
Atlanta: Daniel Hemric
Las Vegas: Austin Dillon
ISM: Matt Tifft
Auto Club: Paul Menard
Martinsville: Matt DiBenedetto
Texas: Chris Buescher
Bristol: Darrell Wallace Jr.
Richmond: Ryan Preece
Mid-Pack with Zach: Ryan Preece, JTG Daugherty Racing
By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Each week, Kickin’ The Tires will highlight the 20th-place finisher from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Standing as the middleman in weekends with 40-car fields, there is sure to be a story behind each one.
For one of the most accomplished short track racers in the Cup Series, Ryan Preece had his work cut out for him in three of the last four race weekends.
During the most condensed section of short tracks on the schedule in 2019, Preece managed some of his top results of the season thus far.
Finishing 16th at Martinsville Speedway in March, a 25th at Bristol was followed by a 20th-place result Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
And though a 20th doesn’t hold much weight with most teams (even those of mid-pack status) the weekend was a push in the right direction for JTG Daugherty Racing as a whole.
Chris Buescher ran the team’s best run of the year thus far, starting seventh and running top five during the first stage of the Toyota Owners 400. Solid in the top 10 most of the night, an unscheduled stop ended his strong run 22nd.
That advanced Preece into the leading position with JTG, running 25th at the halfway point and 24th on average across 400 laps. The final stage saw Preece jump to finish 20th.
Though the night could have been more, the result was only Preece’s second top-20 finish since the season-opening Daytona 500, where he finished career-high eighth.
With a week off for Easter break, Preece will make his first Cup start a Talladega Superspeedway.
Catch up on Mid-Pack with Zach HERE
List of 20th-Place Finishers in 2019
Daytona: Clint Bowyer
Atlanta: Daniel Hemric
Las Vegas: Austin Dillon
ISM: Matt Tifft
Auto Club: Paul Menard
Martinsville: Matt DiBenedetto
Texas: Chris Buescher
Bristol: Darrell Wallace Jr.
Richmond: Ryan Preece