Preece Becomes Youngest NWMT Champion

In 2012 Ryan Preece watched as Doug Coby celebrated in victory lane when he beat Preece by 11 points for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship. One year later it was Preece celebrating in victory lane as champion.

Preece’s day began from the fifth starting position. It took a while but Preece eventually made his way into the lead. After hard battles with eventual winner Rowan Pennink and second-place finisher Donny Lia, Preece eventually had to settle for third, but that was more than enough for Preece to become the youngest champion in the 29-year history of the Tour. The 22-year-old Preece took that honor from Bobby Santos who was 25-years-old when he won the title in 2010.

“I don’t even know how to explain it to you,” said Preece. “All the history that’s behind this. When I go home, whenever I get that trophy, when I see all those names and then I see mine I’m sure it’s going to really sink in.”

He led the points standings almost all season long, in fact the only point in the season that Preece didn’t have at least a share of the lead (he was tied with Rowan Pennink after the second race) was after the season opening Icebreaker event at Thompson. But Preece highlighted the second race of his three-straight wins from the Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl and his battle for the win with Coby as the big moment of the season.

“I was definitely determined to go out and lead,” said Preece. “And those three wins in the middle of the summer really boosted us. I think winning that race at Waterford with Doug and the green-white-checkered really put a fire in me to get the job done.”

Preece just needed to finish 22nd thanks to his 26-point cushion over Coby coming into the race. But rather than play it safe Preece led 33 laps and battled hard with Pennink and Donny Lia near the end of the race.

“I wasn’t going to ride around and do it,” said Preece. “I was racing hard every lap. I’m not a sandbagger. I’m one that’s going to race hard until the end. But I wasn’t going to put myself in a situation where I could get wrecked. I’d say the last two laps of the race was the first time I thought about points.”

Becoming the youngest Tour champion is just another record that Preece can see his name next to. In September Preece won his third straight Tour race at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway, which tied the record set by Mike Ewanitsko in the late-1990s. But Preece doesn’t think about records all that much.

“As young as I am, I’ll be honest with you that I don’t really think about it,” said Preece. “The Mike Ewanitsko Riverhead deal and the championship, that’s a lot. I look up to Mike. I’ve heard a lot of stories about him so I’ve strived to be something like him. I’m just going to keep trying and keep racing and if I keep setting records that’s awesome.”

Now Preece looks to next season and the possibility of repeating, which is a difficult task considering there have been eight different champions in the last nine seasons. Tony Hirschman was the last driver to win back-to-back Tour titles in 2004-05.

“I want to do it again,” said Preece. “I’m ready for next year. Let’s go.”

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam