Ryan Preece

Ryan Preece (born October 25, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for JTG Daugherty Racing. In 2013, he won the Whelen Modified Tour championship after being runner-up in 2009 and 2012.

Early career
Preece began racing in 2007 and became 32nd in the championship in the Northeastern Midget Association with the Bertrand team. A year later he finished on the podium for the first time in his career with a third place at Monadnock in his only Northeastern Midget race that year. That same year he got his first career victory in the Whelen Modified Tour after dominating the Made In America Whelen 300 at Martinsville. In 2009 and 2012 he was runner-up in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, but he became champion in 2013 with four wins in fourteen races. In 2015, he drove for TS Haulers Racing, owned by Ed Partridge.

First stint in NASCAR
He made his debut in the Nationwide Series in 2013 and finished 24th at Loudon driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for Tommy Baldwin Racing. In 2014, he drove two races driving the No. 36 Camaro for TBR at Loudon and Homestead, with a best finish of 14th. On August 8, 2015, Preece announced he would make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut for TBR at Loudon. Preece drove the No. 98 Chevy out of the TBR shop in partnership with Premium Motorsports. After starting 37th, he finished 32nd in the Sylvania 300. Preece returned to the Cup Series for the final four races of the season with Premium. TBR did not assist his races at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix, though they returned to help field the No. 98 at Homestead out of their shop. Preece joined JD Motorsports full-time in 2016, driving the No. 01 Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series. The primary sponsor was Flex Seal. Preece has several decent runs for the mid-pack organization in 2016, just missing the first ever Xfinity playoffs.

Return to Modifieds
On November 24, 2016, it was announced that Preece would remain at JD Motorsports for another full season in 2017. However, on December 8, 2016, it was announced that Preece and JD Motorsports had parted ways, letting Preece explore other opportunities. The primary reason why Preece left JD is that he wanted to be in a team to win races and expected to be back in the Whelen Modified Tour in 2017. He rejoined Partridge's team in the Modified Tour.

2017
In July 2017, he returned to the Xfinity Series, racing at Loudon in the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing with sponsorship from Mohawk Northeast and Mizzy Construction, finishing a career-best second behind teammate Kyle Busch. The opportunity originally came after Kevin Manion contacted Preece about openings at JGR after the retirement of Carl Edwards.

At Iowa, Preece returned to the No. 20 with Mohawk and Falmouth Construction sponsoring. Preece won the pole and held off teammate Kyle Benjamin on a late restart to win his first career Xfinity race.

After his Iowa win, JGR announced that Preece would also drive for the team at Kentucky Speedway in September (a standalone Xfinity race), and later Homestead (where Cup drivers, regardless of experience, are prohibited from participating). Preece, with the American Red Cross on the No. 20 car, finished 4th at Kentucky.

Preece moved to Gibbs’ No. 18 Safelite Toyota at Homestead. Preece was involved in a controversy, as championship contender Elliott Sadler placed the blame on Preece for blocking him on the final restart of the season. Preece still managed a top 5 finish.

2018
On November 15, 2017, it was announced that Preece would run another partial schedule with JGR in 2018, running at least ten races in the No. 18 car, sharing it with JGR Cup drivers Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Daniel Suárez, JGR development driver Kyle Benjamin, and Australian James Davison. While he is listed for ten races, more races are possible. Sponsorship of Preece's races in the No. 18 would come primarily from Rheem. A few of the races were instead supported by Ruud and its affiliate businesses.

Preece began his season with a 9th-place finish at California, his first time finishing outside the top 5 at Gibbs. He got back in the top 5 a week later at Texas.

Preece became eligible for the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash after his good run at Texas. The next week at Bristol, Preece won the race and the bonus, taking home the $100,000. It was Preece's second career Xfinity Series win.

Preece did not run any of the other Dash 4 Cash races. He returned to the No. 18 car at Daytona.

2019
For 2019, Preece joined JR Motorsports to drive their No. 8 part-time. He competed in four events, all finishing in the top ten with a highest of fourth at Pocono.

JTG Daugherty Racing
On September 28, 2018, Preece was announced as the new full-time driver of the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2019, replacing A. J. Allmendinger and competing for 2019 Rookie of the Year honors. Preece also joined JR Motorsports for a part-time Xfinity Series schedule in the No. 8 Camaro.

On August 16, 2019, Preece confirmed that he would remain with the team for the 2020 season. However, he moved to JTG's No. 37 car as new teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took over the No. 47. After finishing 20th at the Real Heroes 400 at Darlington, a inversion meant Preece won the Pole for the Toyota 500 though he is not qualified for the Busch Clash so far in 2021, though showing off strong, he had a engine problem that resulted in him coming home last.

Personal life
Preece is a native of Berlin, Connecticut. He is the youngest of three sons. In 2009, he graduated from Xavier High School and earned his high school diploma. On August 10, 2016, Preece announced his engagement to his long-time girlfriend Heather Desrochers.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led. )

Whelen Southern Modified Tour
$$ Season still in progress $1$ Ineligible for series points