Preece Has Martinsville Clock, Now Wants Trip To Victory Lane In Whelen 300


Ryan Preece has the trophy, the big, beautiful grandfather clock, that goes to the winner of the Made In America 300 at Martinsville Speedway. What he doesn’t have is the Victory Lane experience that goes with it, and that’s what he’ll be gunning for next Sunday.

Preece won the pole for last year’s NASCAR Modified Tour event at Martinsville and led most of the race. But with 29 laps remaining, Burt Myers slipped past him and held on for the win just ahead of Preece.

But by midweek Preece had been declared the race winner after Myers was disqualified by NASCAR for technical violations on his car.

“When we go back to Martinsville, we’ll have all our guns with us. It would be pretty nice to get to go to victory lane there,” said Preece. “The grandfather clock is sitting pretty in the house, but it would sure be cool to get one in victory lane.”

Preece knows he’ll have his hands full next weekend in the Made In America Whelen 300. It’s a combination event, meaning drivers from both the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour will be on hand to battle it out.

If Preece’s win a year ago wasn’t enough to prove he belonged with Modified racing’s big boys, his accomplishments since certainly have. He’s won three more times since then and scored several more pole victories.

“Martinsville sort of kicked it off for us,” said Preece. “Every race since then we’ve gotten better. Everything has sort of come together. When we are working together at the track, we don’t even need to say what needs to be done. Everybody just knows what to do when.”

When Preece won at Martinsville a year ago, amazingly, he was starting his senior year of high school. This time around, he’ll be a few weeks into his first year of college.

“I want to be a teacher. I had to think of a career I like, one that would be best to be based around racing because this is what I’ve always wanted to do. Teachers get the summers off, have good vacations and I can call in sick every now and then when I need to,” Preece said jokingly.

Unlike some youngsters in the sport, he’s not putting all of his eggs in the racing-for-a-living basket.

“You know, we get some calls (about moving up) and I knock on some doors. But a lot of it now is about money and we don’t have that. Right now we’ll keep doing what we are doing and hopefully keep winning races.

“I’d love to race my way up through the ranks. That would be awesome. But if I don’t … well, I love racing. I don’t care what it is, if it’s got a motor and four wheels, I’ll be in it.”

Preece and the rest of the Modified drivers will hit the track for the first time Friday morning at 10 a.m., followed by a practice session for the Limited Sportsman Division, which will be making its debut here in the Made In America 300.

Modified time trials are set for 2:30 p.m. followed by Limited Sportsman qualifying.

Action kicks off Sunday, Sept 27 at 12:15 p.m. with two, 25-lap heat races to fill out the Limited Sportsman field. The top five finishers in each race will advance to the 50-lap feature, filling starting positions 27-36.

The 200-lap NASCAR Modified Tour race will begin at 1:30 p.m. followed by the 50-lap Limited Sportsman feature.

Tickets for the Made In America Whelen 300 are $25 and may be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or by visiting www.martinsvillespeedway.com. Children 12 and under will be admitted free.