Ryan Preece is locked in a fight to get into the Playoffs. With just two races to go, he’s 34 points below the cutline: a big deficit, but certainly not insurmountable.
Making matters just that bit more complicated, the driver Preece is chasing is his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher.
But Preece has put himself firmly on the offensive by qualifying on the pole at Richmond Raceway.
“It’s a great opportunity to go win the stage and get 10 points,” Preece said, explaining that his plan is to pick up the stage win in a caution-free first stage.
“As much as I hate talking about points, especially racing against my teammate, I think he’s starting 11th so this is an opportunity to try and close back in on some of those points he put on us.”
What it took to get that pole was a combination of a fast car and a bold driver. Preece ran the Whelen Modified race at Richmond the night before, and he said that gave him the confidence to drive the car deep into Turn 1 and know it would stick.
“Going into turn one, I leaned on what I drove with the modified and how hard I was pushing the pace there and I felt like a lot of that helped me somewhat going into today,” Preece described.
“Always a good thing to get those extra laps and run modifieds when I can, but that was one of those moments that I drove it off into turn one and said, ‘If she sticks, she sticks. If she doesn’t, probably not gonna have a great starting spot, but I’m not leaving anything on the table.”
The pole was a bit of a surprise to the rest of the field since Preece was second-slowest, 37th, in practice, but he explained that his focus was on learning how the tires would fall off.
In recent years, the pole has been a big advantage at Richmond since it has been difficult to pass, though a more unpredictable level of tire falloff this weekend casts some doubt on that principle. Preece, nevertheless, said that starting from the pole is always an advantage.
“I definitely, especially at a place like this, would rather be out front. I think there’s still some questions of how you want to do it, but I’d rather be the one leading rather than trying to have to pass people and potentially abusing the tire that way, so tomorrow it’s gonna get out front, get clean air and set my pace and take care of them.”
Behind Preece, Tyler Reddick will start second, AJ Allmendinger will start third, Denny Hamlin will start fourth, and Chase Elliott will start fifth.
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