Maybe Joe Gibbs Racing should just let Ryan Preece drive one of its XFINITY Series cars full time
By Nick Tylwalk
Ryan Preece isn’t driving an XFINITY Series car full-time, but what he’s done in a limited sample size for Joe Gibbs Racing suggests he should be.
The Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 ended with one of the best possible feel good stories, as Ryan Preece captured both the win and the first Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus. It carried with it both good and bad news: The good is that Preece is going to be able to pay off the debts he incurred last year while betting on himself just to get a few XFINITY Series starts.
The bad is that while the victory should have locked him into Dash 4 Cash contention again at Richmond next week, he won’t be able to go for another six-digit payday because he’s not racing there. Once again, Preece has only a part-time seat, and he’s not due back in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota until July at Daytona.
In the meantime, Preece will stay plenty busy racing in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and several other series. But while JGR has the No. 18 filled out for the rest of 2018 when he’s not in it, his performance begs the question: Why not just give him a full-time gig next season?
It’s not like his victory at Bristol came out of nowhere. Preece has made seven starts between 2017 and 2018 in one of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars, and he has two wins, six top-5s and a low finish of ninth. That’s not a typo.
Yes, it’s true that the JGR XFINITY Series cars are about as good as they get — Kyle Busch and his 91 series victories are nodding in agreement right now — and Preece gets to run some races where there are no Cup Series intruders. So what? He still has to get the results when he’s behind the wheel, and he’s proven that he can.
It’s a tough spot for Preece because he’s a little too old to be considered a developmental driver. The two guys driving the full XFINITY Series seasons for Joe Gibbs Racing this year are 21-year-old Brandon Jones and 23-year-old Christopher Bell, who just happens to be one of the sport’s top prospects. At 27, Preece isn’t in that coveted “Young Guns” group that NASCAR is so fond of promoting.
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Maybe that hurts him with sponsors too. But if the point is to run up front, win races and even snag the occasional bonus check, Preece has shown he can do that consistently. It’s a shame Preece won’t be at Richmond next week, where he’d undoubtedly be a threat to score another $100,000 and probably not even have to worry about going into debt again any time soon. Next year, though, if Bell moves up, Joe Gibbs Racing really should consider giving Preece a full-time seat.
Everything he’s shown so far suggests it would be a wise investment.