Ryan Preece cashes in on risky career move with Xfinity win at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON — In modern NASCAR, simply having talent isn't always enough.

Any top driver will tell you there are thousands of racers across the country who have the ability to be behind the wheel of a racecar in the top series in NASCAR, but haven't had the opportunity. In many cases, opportunity comes with funding. The amount of funding only gets so many opportunities.

Ryan Preece had a full-time ride last season with JD Motorsports. The funding he was able to find for this year could've been put to that effort again. Instead, Preece traded that for just two races — but with Joe Gibbs Racing. He took a shot that he said led to 'multiple people with the business,' tell him 'they thought it was more risky than they would do.'

Saturday at Iowa Speedway, Preece sank his shot in winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series U.S. Cellular 250 after starting from the pole.

'To be honest with you, I believed in myself enough to do it,' Preece said. 'It's not easy to walk away from something. There were a lot of people who were a little upset with me. But I knew what I felt like I had to do to get attention to make noise. I felt like these two races were the shot.

'I'm just really fortunate and very happy to be sitting right here. I felt like I gave it everything I could.'

Preece's two races in the No. 20 JGR Toyota netted him Saturday's win and a second-place finish two weeks ago at New Hampshire.

As far as rising to the occasion, Preece could barely have done much better from a results perspective.

The reality of the sport, Preece said, left him two options: run with a team that will get you in the car every week, but not necessarily in winning-caliber equipment, or what he's done this year. In the past, competing in a car that has run '25th to 20th and trying to outrun it,' as Preece put it, was a way to get attention within the garage. Unfortunately, that's not necessarily enough anymore.

Preece met some of that backlash after leaving JD Motorsports, but he said Saturday it was more important to him to have a standard of excellence and try to meet that than just be in a car at any cost.

'Nothing really came of it (last year),' Preece said. 'We had our moments of shining, but never really got anyone talking. At the end of the year, Ryan Newman and I talked and a lot of (other) people — and I just wasn't happy. I'm not a racer to just be out there. I'm a racer to try and be right here (as a winner); get those trophies and be accomplished and be remembered in this sport.'

Preece's crew chief, Chris Gabehart, sat next to him as he told his story and nodded his head slightly at a few different points. Gabehart said he was in the same position years ago, but couldn't make it as far as a driver, before choosing a different route.

He nodded his head because Preece isn't the only one in this situation. Preece's JGR teammate Kyle Benjamin, who finished second by about half a car length, is in the same spot as Preece — using enough funding for a few races to get noticed.

Gabehart lamented the spot the sport is in, saying, 'unfortunately our sport is not in a spot right now where it can support all that talent, and they can't all make it to the top. But when they do, this is the result.'

Preece got his shot thanks to a suggestion from former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Kevin 'Bono' Manion. Preece said Manion told him to call JGR Executive Vice President for Xfinity Series and Development Steve DeSouza.

He made the call, and said, 'I left a voicemail, and he could've listened to that voicemail and said, 'He probably doesn't have money,' or something like that. But he didn't; he called me.' DeSouza said Saturday he could tell from his 'due diligence,' Preece's commitment to making it work was real.

Saturday showed all involved made the right call to take this shot.

But even as Preece makes the 12-hour drive home to Connecticut to prepare to race his Whelen Modified on Friday at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway, he's not looking back at those who doubted the shot.

The trophy in the passenger seat speaks for itself.

'I don't think I have to tell those people (I told you so),' Preece said. 'I hope they're happy for me, to be honest with you. I hope they say to themselves, 'Maybe he did know what he was doing.''

GASE ENDS UP 24TH AS ONE OF 3 IOWANS IN RACE

Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase may not have had the same good fortune as he did in the June race at Iowa Speedway, but he said Saturday after the U.S. Cellular 250 he's fine with that because he had a much better racecar.

Gase followed up an Iowa Speedway-best 18th in June with a 24th-place finish Saturday, despite being five laps down. He was caught multiple laps down thanks in large part to a caution coming out just after a green flag pit stop, and then then-leader Justin Allgaier staying out.

'I think we had a better car than June by far,' Gase said. '(Allgaier) stayed out and kind of screwed us, and screwed himself. I don't know why they tried that, but overall it was a good day.

'That car was a 40th-place car, where this car was a 20th-place car. We're going to start off a lot better now.'

Grimes native Brett Moffitt finished 11th in his only Xfinity Series start this season, while West Des Moines native Michael Annett finished 33rd after electrical problems took him out of the race.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com