WINSTON-SALEM, NC. - Ryan Preece captured the first win of his NASCAR Cup Series career as he won Wednesday night’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Preece led 46 laps, including the final 45 circuits, to give the Ford Mustang Dark Horse its first win in three Clash starts. Overall, it was Ford’s 11th all-time victory in the non-points event with Preece being the eighth different driver to reach Victory Lane.
Preece took his first lead on a restart with 57 laps to go, but that ignited a stretch that saw seven cautions take place in a 38 lap stretch. Overall, there were a record 17 yellow flags.
Ryan Blaney finished third and had a rollercoaster night. He drove from his 16th-place starting position to fourth after 100 laps, but when the weather came and wet weather tires went on, he went backwards. As the track dried out, however, his No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse came alive and got up to second before a late-race restart saw him drop one spot.
The race, which was delayed three days due to a snow storm that blanketed much of North Carolina, was a microcosm of the conditions that plagued the area for two weeks. The event started with temperatures in the upper 30’s, but deteriorated at the 100-lap halftime break as rain and sleet fell from the sky. That prompted teams to put on their wet weather tires and what followed was a series of cautions as drivers tried to balance going fast while maintaining track position.
The NASCAR season will officially get started next week when the 68th running of the Daytona 500 takes place on Sunday, Feb. 15 at Daytona International Speedway.
NCS RACE TOP-10 OFFICIAL FINISHERS
1st – Ryan Preece
2nd – William Byron
3rd – Ryan Blaney
4th – Daniel Suarez
5th – Denny Hamlin
6th – Chase Briscoe
7th – Austin Dillon
8th – Chris Buescher
9th – Ross Chastain
10th – Alex Bowman
REMAINING FORD FINISHERS
11th – Joey Logano
12th – Josh Berry
21st – Austin Cindric
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Kroger/Coca-Cola Ford Mustang Dark Horse - VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW
WHAT ARE YOUR EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW?
“Man, they all hit me. I feel bad for Roush Yates Engines right now because that thing is bouncing off the chip pretty hard. I’ve got to thank Ford, Ford Racing and everybody there with all the support they give us. As far as emotions go, when you work as hard as I have, I hate talking about it because I hate getting emotional about it, but it’s not just the Clash – winning means everything to me. I’ve put a lot into it.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN AT THIS PLACE?
“I’m a quarter-mile killer. When it comes to this style of racing it’s what I grew up doing. I used to drive for a guy, Eddie Partridge, and he owned Riverhead Raceway, and I was racing for Bill Park and it’s an absolute grind. The moment to get here, it’s a lead up to the year and it’s not a points race, but winning means everything. Man, I’m just speechless.”
DRY TRACK. WET TRACK. DRYING TRACK. WHAT WAS THE KEY TO GET YOU TO THE FRONT AND THEN SURVIVE AT THE END?
“Just having lanes go my way. I think the short track side of understanding how to not get bullied, but understand you don’t want to piss somebody off. There’s a balance. I definitely didn’t want a caution. I was kind of pacing myself those last 10 laps because I didn’t want to run them down and put ourselves in that position to have to put myself in a bad position. I usually give a good interview, but this is just amazing.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Lakes Flooring Ford Mustang Dark Horse
YOU WENT FROM THE BACK TO THE FRONT SO MANY TIMES, AND PASSED SO MANY CARS. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE YOUR NIGHT AS A WHOLE?
“A pretty wild day. From the race, we were really, really good in the dry. I thought we were the best car by a mile the first half, driving from 16th to fourth and I was really looking forward to getting the second half going and then it started raining. A wintry mix I guess you could call it, and then the rain tires went on and when we fired off in the rain I went straight backwards. I wasn’t good. My car wasn’t handling good, and then as it started to dry out my car came back. Even on the wet tires, my car came back a little bit and we were able to pick a couple good lanes and creep through there and ended up third. Overall, a back and forth night, but I’m proud of the effort and proud of a really fast car in the dry, and then just sticking with it in the wet. It dried up a little bit for us to be able to go back forward.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR A DRIVER WHEN THINGS CHANGE ON THE TRACK?
“It’s odd. Honestly, I was pretty nervous because our car was so good in the dry. When you just throw wets on it you can’t really adjust anything. I’m like, ‘Uh oh, I don’t know if we’re gonna be very good,’ because what my car did really good in the dry is not what you really want in the wet, so I was nervous about that. But, I was just looking forward to it to stop raining and hopefully get somewhat of a dry lane going on and it eventually did. My car came back a little bit. It still handles way different on wet tires, but it’s pretty fun as a driver. When it first got raining it was really top dominant. The bottom was so slippery and you saw a bunch of guys that couldn’t really pass anybody, but once the dry lane started and kind of started working down you could have a little more options, so that makes it fun as a driver. An ever-changing racetrack is neat and trying to look at the track lap to lap like, ‘Alright, did it get a little bit drier higher up or lower?’ That’s what is fun for a driver. We don’t do it that often, so it’s neat when we can do it.”
