Opinion: Ryan Preece's Time at JTG Daugherty Racing, What Comes Next?

Photo: Stephen A. Arce/ ASP, Inc.

    After only three seasons of full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition, Ryan Preece and JTG Daugherty Racing part ways with separate ventures in mind. JTG Daugherty Racing announced earlier this season that they will halt their No. 37 team (which Preece has driven for the past two years) in hopes of fielding a more competitive No. 47 car for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. next season. While Ryan Preece steps into unknown waters, with everything on the line and his options slim, he knows one thing: he wants to be a winner once again, and  preferably at the Cup Series level. 

Over the span of 6 seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ryan Preece scored a respectable two wins, 12 top-5's, and 19 top-10's, which stands out in stark comparison to his two top-5's and nine top-10's at the Cup Series level. It may be news to some, but many (including myself) know that Ryan Preece is not a bad driver, given adequate equipment he will go out and steal the show. For almost 14 years Preece has competed in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, where he got his start, and he has shown throughout his 25 wins, 85 top-5, and 107 top-10 finishes that he is a wheel-man, waiting for the perfect opportunity. Preece only ran seven Whelen Modified Tour races this season, and guess what, he won 3 of them. That's a 42% chance of winning, who's to say he couldn't pull of something similar in one of NASCAR's national series?

Ryan Preece wins NASCAR Wheelen Modified tour race in the No. 6 Machine at Stafford Motor Speedway, his home track (Michael Ivins/NASCAR Media)

Sponsorship, funding, money. Call it what you like, but even talented drivers like Ryan Preece don't have an unlimited supply of it. In fact for the past handful of years, Ryan Preece has had to rely on his team relationships to support his career, and that's part of the reason that JTG Daugherty Racing can no longer financially support a second team. This is a trend we are seeing more and more frequently in recent years, companies leaving the sport of stock car racing, and new ones not filling their place. It's plagued drivers such as Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs and Alex Bowman, all proven winners. Is there a solution to this problem? Yes, but not an easy one. NASCAR in general would first need to find itself performing exceptionally on the national stage of sports. It's simple to understand that NASCAR needs to become more popular before companies go spending millions of dollars for sponsorship, but its not easy to actually solve. For a handful of years NASCAR has implemented sensational systems such as stage racing and the 'win and you're in' playoff format, but even so we've only seen ratings decrease. 

That hurts drivers like Ryan Preece. Though Preece has some level of control in how entertaining a race becomes, his is a victim of the times.

Don't let that fool you though, just because NASCAR has consistently under performed for the past several years does not mean that opportunities in the sport are gone altogether. Just this June Ryan Preece used his connections with Kevin Harvick Incorporated (his management group) to land himself sponsorship from Hunt Brothers Pizza and a ride in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Nashville Superspeedway. Unlike most of his compeitors in the Cup Series, Preece had never raced in the Truck Series, but in surprising fashion he dominated the race and won his first ever start in the series. That's one more success added to Preece's list. 

Ryan Preece driving David Gilliland Racing's No. 17 Ford F-150 to the race win at Nashville Superspeedway, in only his first Truck Series Start (Getty Images)

That victory was a reminder to the informed NASCAR public that Ryan Preece is not an unskilled driver, he just races for an under performing team week to week. So what does that mean for his future in the series?

From my perspective winning an event the way the he did, Ryan Preece has at the very least caught the eyes of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team owners, if not owners in the Xfinity and Cup Series. In the Cup Series, Ryan Preece may have a few opportunities to stick around, with teams like Front Row Motorsports, or a choice some have rumored, Stewart-Haas Racing (????). Although those choices aren't necessarily bad they aren't great, and while they aren't impossible for Preece to obtain, they also aren't very probable. After the success Ryan Preece has had, and talent he still holds within, I think that he likely has the most high performance opportunities in the NASCAR Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series. Those might just be opportunities that Ryan Preece decides to take a chance on.

We saw it good and clear this past season (2021) that a driver like John Hunter Nemechek, who had (to put it lightly) an ill performing season in the Cup Series, can look backwards and make a name for themselves in a lower series. Nemechek went from being a 27th place driver in the Cup Series to becoming a driver who contends for wins week in and week out in the Truck Series. In fact, Nemechek won five times during the 2021 Camping World Truck Series season, only missing the title due to some unforeseen issues during the Championship race at Phoenix.

Ryan Preece even told Claire B Lang on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier this year “I don’t just race the [NASCAR] Cup Series,” and continued “Anybody that knows me, knows that I’m working effortlessly, constantly, no matter what it is, racing Modifieds. I’m currently going to be building a Super Late Model to go run the Snowball [Derby] and, I want to be a racer, I want to be one of the best racers.”.

AUDIO: ICYMI @RyanPreece_ joined @ClaireBLang on #DialedIn and reacted to the news that @JTGRacing will only field one Cup Series entry in 2022: pic.twitter.com/UmDogRyZ6w

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) September 2, 2021

 For those reasons alone, I feel that Preece understands the predicament that he is in, as he's quick to mention to Lang (and the audience) that he's not glued to the Cup Series, that he's a racer, and that this is the career he wants to have, no matter where it takes him. 

Although Ryan Preece has yet to obtain a win in the NASCAR Cup Series, he's managed to come close a handful of times. At most of the superspeedway type tracks (Daytona, Talladega) and those where drafting is essential (Michigan) Preece easily finds himself finishing within the top-10 time and time again. He's not an un-devoted driver, or even one that doesn't know how to work the track. Preece's issue is that he does not consistently have racing equipment of the right caliber to allow him an opportunity for the win. It's at these kind of tracks where 'Big Ones' occur, and the playing field is evened that Preece thrives. This is where his talent has been the most valued in the Cup Series.

Ryan Preece and the No. 37 team ran the entirety of the 2021 season un-chartered, meaning their arrival at the track from week to week was not always certain. JTG Daugherty Racing never even promised an entire season for the No. 37 team, but as sponsorship provided, Ryan Preece did have a full time opportunity with the team in 2021. That will not be the case in 2022. Whether Preece is ready or not, changes are coming.

I can't say that Preece will never again find a good opportunity in the Cup Series due to the fact that it's probably not true, but I can say that he will (probably) find a decent ride a lot sooner, and far more easily in a lower series. Life is not straight forward, and I can say with confidence that to be successful you must remeber to look back from time to time. Ryan Preece currently presents that thought process very well. Ryan Preece is a hardcore racer, and it's only a matter of time until we see his full potential.