Ryan Preece wins in Truck debut, scores Rackley Roofing 200 victory

Ryan Preece has joined a rather exclusive club; he is now one of five drivers to win in his NASCAR Camping Word Truck Series début. The Cup Series regular took the lead with seven laps remaining to win Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.

For the first Truck race at the Tennessee track since 2011, Derek Kraus was the fastest qualifier to earn his maiden pole ahead of Jack Wood, who enjoyed his best career starting position. Preece started sixth. J.J. Yeley, Clay Greenfield, Bret Holmes, Spencer Boyd, Keith McGee, and Josh Reaume failed to qualify.

Kraus dominated the opening stage by leading every lap. Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger, Wood, Preece, Zane Smith, Johnny Sauter, William Byron, and Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top ten. Like Preece and Ross Chastain, Byron is a Cup driver dipping into the lower series for the race ahead of their main division’s inaugural Nashville event on Sunday. 

The second stage also worked in a Toyota driver’s favour as Chandler Smith led the field to green and stayed on top for the entire duration of the segment. The first non-stage caution came on lap 79 after Byron’s engine expired, ending his first Truck race since 2016 with a last-place finish. Zane Smith, Kraus, Sauter, Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes, Wood, Tanner Gray, Enfinger, and Preece followed.

Stewart Friesen was the leader to open the final segment, but it only lasted a single lap before Sauter spun. Another restart with Enfinger leading led to three laps before Kraus wrecked with Byron’s Rackley WAR team-mate Josh Berry. Preece, who had moved up to second, battled with Enfinger for the rest of the race. With six laps remaining, Preece blew by Enfinger and held him off to score his first Truck victory.

The win is Preece’s third in a national series, with the first two coming in the Xfinity Series and the most recent in 2018 at Bristol. Preece joins Mike Skinner (1995 Phoenix; inaugural Truck race), Robert Pressley (2002 Daytona), Kasey Kahne (2004 Darlington), and Ryan Newman (2008 Atlanta) as the five drivers to win in their Truck début. He is the second driver of 2021 to win in his first start in a national series after Ty Gibbs accomplished the Xfinity version at the Daytona Road Course in February.

Preece also recorded David Gilliland Racing‘s first victory under their current name and second in team history after Ankrum won at Kentucky in 2019. Gilliland’s son Todd, driving for DGR ally Front Row Motorsports, took second from Enfinger to secure the Ford 1–2 finish.

Race results