DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Preece knows there is a lot riding on his attempt to make the field for Sunday’s 63rd Daytona 500 at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
For starters, it’s the most prestigious race in the NASCAR Cup Series, and a race that Preece has been strong in during his short Cup career. After all, he finished eighth as a Daytona 500 rookie in 2019.
Beyond that, however, it’s vital for Preece’s chances to run a full Cup Series campaign.
He’s in the precarious position of having to make the Daytona 500 as a non-chartered driver, after his No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing team relinquished the NASCAR charter that locked Preece into every Cup Series race during the offseason.
Preece is vying for one of four open spots in the field over the next two days, relying on either his qualifying speed Wednesday night or by finishing his Bluegreen Vacations Duel race on Thursday as the highest non-chartered driver after 150 miles.
That’s enough pressure on any driver as is. But it becomes exponentially more so in Preece’s case.
If he misses the Daytona 500, there’s a likelihood that Preece and JTG Daugherty Racing’s No. 37 team may not be able to compete in several early-season Cup Series events due to the way the fields will be set for the two weeks following The Great American Race.
Traditionally, the 40-car Cup Series fields for each race have been made up of the 36 chartered teams and the fastest four non-chartered, or open, teams from qualifying at each race on the schedule.
However, because the COVID-19 pandemic has eliminated practice and qualifying for 28 of the 36 races on the calendar, the process will be different to decide the four non-chartered cars early in the year.
For races two and three — at the Daytona Int’l Speedway road course and Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, respectively — the top-two open cars from last year’s owner standings and the top-two open cars from this year’s standings will be granted entries into the field, due to the absence of qualifying.
Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, considering Preece was a full-time driver last season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
However, when the No. 37 team relinquished its charter to Todd Braun — who originally bought the charter from Furniture Row Racing before the 2018 season and maintained a controlling interest in the franchise — it also had to give up its owner points from last year.
That means Preece has nothing to fall back on for the two races following the Daytona 500, meaning the Berlin, Conn., native will have to both make the race and perform well on Sunday in order to ensure he’s guaranteed a place in the next two Cup Series events.
Preece, however, tipped during his Daytona 500 Media Week availability that he’s not stressed entering his third — and arguably most important — Daytona attempt.
“I’m not stressed at all,” Preece told reporters. “We’re going to go down and if everything works out the way I think it’s laid out, we should qualify on speed. I actually feel pretty confident with it.”
Preece’s early speed in Daytona 500 practice Wednesday seemed to back up his statement.
He was 19th-fastest on the overall speed charts, but second-quickest among those who only made single-car runs during the 50-minute session and right on top of the pole speed from last year’s Daytona 500 — set by his teammate, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Preece was also the fastest non-chartered driver in practice. The top two open teams in qualifying will make Sunday’s 500-miler, no matter what happens in Thursday night’s pair of 150-mile Duel races.
Though Daytona 500 qualifying this year is at night, rather than in the afternoon sunlight, Preece doesn’t expect the philosophy or strategy for turning a fast lap to change much at all.
“I expect to be wide-open and holding the bottom. Everything from there on out … it’s still Daytona. There’s going to be no draft so it’s really going to come down to preparation and not having a strong headwind or anything like that,” Preece noted. “I guess we’ll have to find out.”
JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Brad Daugherty confirmed to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio recently that, though the team plans to run a full season with Preece, it only has enough funding secured at this point for him to run 24 Cup Series races this year.
That’s one more twist in the saga that awaits the 30-year-old Preece this season, but the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion believes he can overcome these challenges like he’s overcome previous setbacks and struggles during his racing career.
“We’re going to continue week after week and, hopefully, everything is there, we’re having a solid season and everything comes together, but it’s just another hurdle,” Preece said. “I think we’re going to be just fine. To be honest with you, it’s not like I haven’t had obstacles in my career. It’s not easy and it’s not like you’re guaranteed (getting) in. Working with Trent (Owens, crew chief) and through some of the things that have been going on throughout the offseason, I feel confident that we should have plenty of speed and we can get in on time, which will make the Duels that much less difficult.
“No matter what plan you come up with when it comes to Daytona, you can be as prepared as possible, but you never know what’s going to happen. We’ll see … hopefully we qualify in on time and everything becomes easier throughout the weekend,” Preece noted. “If we don’t, then it will come down to executing, making sure everything goes right and we get ourselves in (Thursday night).”
Qualifying for the 63rd Daytona 500 kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.