Friday, March 4
Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 2.5-mile superspeedway
Race: 2 of 23
Event: Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 (134 laps, 201 miles)
Ryan Preece, No. 17 United Rentals Ford F-150
Start: 5th
Finish: 4th
Ryan Preece started eighth for his first race of the season with DGR. After getting pinched on the opening start, he fell back to 10th and was running there when caution waved on lap 22.
The driver reported that the truck was a little loose for his liking and the team decided to pit and restart 13th for the final laps of Stage 1. He ultimately finished the stage in 12th under yellow.
The Connecticut native restarted sixth for Stage 2 and sustained minor damage to the right front fender on the restart. The damage made the United Rentals F-150 tight and Preece fell to 11th where he held steady until a caution flag with five laps to go in the stage allowed him to pit again. He finished Stage 2 in 13th.
After staying out at the stage break, Preece restarted the final stage in eighth. At the lap 73 caution he was in 6th and the next caution at lap 90, he was in 7th. Crew chief Chad Johnston had him pit again for tires and adjustments. He restarted 13th.
The United Rentals F-150 broke into the top-five with 18 laps remaining and a lap 119 caution gave the driver a chance to make a charge for the lead. On the restart, he held second briefly before settling into third and then the caution flag waved yet again.
Preece restarted inside row 2 for the final three-lap shootout of the race. After getting loose on the inside entering turn three with two laps to go, he rallied from seventh back to fifth to earn his first top-five of the year. A disqualification to the second-place finisher moved Preece up to fourth in the final results.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
