Ryan Preece Prevails in Modified Showdown at South Boston

Instead of hunting Easter eggs, NASCAR Cup Series competitor hunted for a victory with the SMART Modified Tour at South Boston Speedway Saturday. The JTG Daugherty Racing driver took full advantage of his off weekend, scoring the win in the 99-lap event.

Preece held off Chuck Hossfeld and Burt Myers on a seven-lap shootout to conclude the race in another strong showing with his “Modified family.”

It feels pretty good. I wish my wife could be here, then it would be all of the family. It was just a really great race car. We worked on it in practice, we didn’t unload quite as well as we thought we would. We kept working on it and got it to where it was really good.

While it was Preece’s first trip to South Boston since a win on the NASCAR Southern Modified Tour in 2016 – and his first to the Virginia track since a 2017 repave – he quickly adapted and established himself as a threat to win.

“I’ve just been fortunate enough to have a lot of experience and learn what works and what doesn’t work. I couldn’t tell you why, but that’s why I have these guys here. It was cool to have my Cup crew chief, Trent Owens, here and get him to victory lane, too.”

Another driver originally from the Northeast finished second, New York’s Chuck Hossfeld. Hossfeld set fast time in qualifying in his PSR Racing entry, starting third after a top-10 redraw and coming home in the runner-up spot.

“Of course we wanted more, we wanted to win. I’m proud of everyone involved, Phil [Stefanelli], his wife Jen, Neil, my friend Dave came from New York,” said Hossfeld. “It just made this a fun weekend. We did a really great job in practice. We had a bounce in our left-front and it really hurt us. I’m glad we could run with Ryan. We put a really good show on, I think. I can’t tell you how great this PSR car is.”

On a late restart, Hossfeld took the inside line at the choose cone, hoping for a good restart. Unfortunately, he was unable to pull even with Preece and slotted back into second on the decisive restart.

On the last restart, I took the bottom and hoped to get a good restart and get next to Ryan. I spun my tires just a little bit, enough that he got ahead. He’s a Cup driver and an excellent Modified driver, and this is our second race as a team, so I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in two races.

Burt Myers rounded out the podium, unofficially taking the SMART Modified Tour points lead in the process. Myers entered the race seeking an elusive first career win at South Boston Speedway, but didn’t have the track position late in the race to capitalize on a fast car.

“We were all three about the same, but better in different spots. We run so fast here with so much grip, it’s hard to find a lane the guy in front of you isn’t in.

I’m still looking for that elusive win at South Boston. Hopefully, with the show we put on today, hopefully the fans and management are happy. We’d love to come back.

While Myers acknowledged he will keep an eye on the SMART Modified Tour points battle, his focus every time he’s on the track is winning races.

“If you get checkered flags and trophies, the championships come. I look at it, but I want to win. I’m here to win.”

On lap 49, Tim Brown was involved in a multi-car incident on a restart. According to a release from South Boston Speedway, Brown was transported to a local hospital following the incident for non-life-threatening injuries.

Courtesy of Speed51.com

-Story by: Zach Evans, Speed51 Content Supervisor – Twitter: @ztevans

-Photo credit: Speed51 Photo / Will Bellamy

Results – SMART Modified 99 at South Boston Speedway