And I will give a big attaboy to Preece for setting up his own stuff
But those days in NASCAR are over.The days when a guy like Kulwicki,Rudd,Waltrip,owned their own single car teams and did a lot of the setup themselves that is. And the differences in the equipment within an individual team has existed forever.If you have ever heard Mario Andretti tell the story about the motors he got the year he won Daytona.I will give you the fact that for all I know the car Preece ran last year was the worst,most bent up,used up car that team had.And head to head as I noted in an earlier posting in this thread it was kind of remarkable how close together a lot of their finishes throughout last year were.But it is a case of the old IROC series.On the surface all the cars are presumed to be equal but are they really? I just like the way Chastain stacks up head to head based solely on DRIVING.Neither one will be turning wrenches on the car once the green flag drops.
Something you are being EXTREMELY ignorant about is experience. Going into last year, Chastain had twice the experience Preece had. He was seeing some of those tracks for the 4th and 5th time in cars he was familiar with. Preece was seeing them for the 1st or 2nd time in a lot of cases with a new team and car to him. For an open wheel modified guy that is use to a 2650lb car with close to the same power and twice the tire of an Xfinity car, there’s going to be a big adjustment period. In the second half of 2016 after he had visited, even though the finishes didn’t show it, Ryan out ran Ross almost every race. Blown engines, parts failures and a terrible pit crew cost him a number of good finishes as well as being punted off the track in the final laps running a solid 3rd at one of the road courses IN THE RAIN. Look at how they ran during the race, not the finishes at the end of the day. The driver can’t control failures and mishaps on pit road, so if you are really going to debate who the better driver is, let’s look at the reality of the situation.
Ryan will absolutely drive circles around Ross any damn day of the week and he will prove that this weekend at NHMS.
Not ignorant about the experience part Phil but I hadn’t mentioned it and it is a factor. The pit crews for all the cars on that team are a throwback to the seventys,they have to be friends,cousins,and guys needing to get away from home.They go in running twelfth and come out running twenty fifth.But that is every car on that team.They ain’t getting any help on pit road.But think about it Phil that experience level thing may be part of the reason I feel Chastain has the edge.You said it yourself,Preece only just started to get a feel for those tracks as he was learning the feel of a full body car versus the open wheel mod.Time may give Preece that edge but the seat time still needs to come.Next year will show a lot more even though it once again won’t be a level field since Preece will be bringing a big gun to the track for Gibbs and Chastain will have a squirt gun with Davis.This has been a good thread.Maybe there is still interest in NASCAR after all.Who would have thought that?
Your contention that the drivers ability to setup and even work on and in some cases build the car in today’s NASCAR is sadly mistaken. And your point of Chastain not having the edge on pit crew is also representative of your lack of actual knowledge to the reality of the situation.
I will state again that I am a Chastain fan and have followed him closely for the last 18 years… but if you put actual Fact up against Opinion, you would have to be completely blind to think that Ross is the better Driver. Again, comparing actual Facts of their vastly different situations vs personal opinion.
And I will reiterate that seeing the ‘sport’ (at the upper tiers) from the inside vs the couch/grandstands will open anyone’s eyes to the facts of what they think they are watching on FOX or NBC. The reality vs show is laughable in most cases. And is the biggest reason why I chose a career that keeps in “short-track” racing as opposed to the alternative.
I have no knocks against Preece,I know what he has done in the modified and I know the level of competition he has raced against.( it has been impressive) Once again I haven’t ever been to Davis Racing’s shops so I don’t know for fact who’s doing what or getting what.The race setup stuff is invaluable and I applaud a guy who can do it as its only going to make him better BUT he can’t turn wrenches from behind the wheel and that’s why I take that part out of the equation. The good news is next year is here NOW.Xfinity is currently practicing at Loud on and Preece is in a Gibbs car eighth fastest and Chastain is his usual twenty second quickest.If Chastain finishes ahead tomorrow you guys owe me a if Preece comes out on top I owe you guys one.But you have to come get yours.lol
If Ross Chastain is so good as you seem to believe he is…
Tell me one thing…
Why didn’t he get a chance with Gibbs?[/QUOTE]
I said it earlier Phil.Preece had those mod tour wins.All Chastain has is some local wins,now five years in the past-- and some podium finishes in the trucks.A big money team wants to see those wins.They want to know you can seal the deal.In this case those tour wins proved invaluable to Preece.Wins are a big deal to a guy before he hands you the keys to his very expensive candy store.
How did Preece get a WMT ride then? His family didn’t fund the ride in the historic #3 Bohler car… They also didn’t fund the #16 Flamingo Motorsports Ride or the current #6 TS Haulers ride… But it must be all that daddy money.
Surely if Chastain was so good, he could have gotten a ride in PASS or something down south in some top notch rides with his Watermelon Money…
Just for the record, Preece sat 4th the majority of Xfinity practice barely .100 off the leader until others started doing mock Q runs…
Phil your a new england guy you would know the answer to the first question better than me.I’m going to go out on a limb here (since I don’t know much about Preece other than his tour mod wins) and say if he was a good set up guy and did a lot of his own shop work,somebody took notice of that.That’s what moves you into better rides.Finishing. Finishing well and somebody seeing hey this guys doing this without a big race shop.On Chastain you make your choices.Could be he was offered a ride he turned down for reasons known only to him.It happens. It happened to me when I raced.I turned down a chance to get in a far better car than I had ever been in but I didn’t want to step on the toes of someone I mistakenly called a friend. You make your decisions even if sometimes they are wrong.Now Preece is a talent I will say that. The tour wins spoke for that.He still needs another year under his belt to see all the tracks he only got a look or two at.Chastain has already been through it.
With all the influx of young talent coming into the top two series now may be the time to reincarnate a version of the old IROC series.All the new young guys head to head in a Race of Future Champions series.If two guys in this thread can generate this spirited a debate what happens when you throw in Blaney,Elliot,Jones,Larson,and quite a few more.Here we are talking about two guys who haven’t even one a race in the top three series. Think about adding in all these guys into one race without the Johnson’s, Harvick,Busch’s etc of the world in matching cars.Could be a market for that.
I didn’t see anymore practice. I’m guessing Chastain 22nd ish in that potent bowtie. Lol OK Phil,you Frasson and Mark Keeler.I’m still on for a cold one based on the results of tomorrow’s Xfinity race even though I think there’s an obvious mismatch in equipment. Based solely on final finish.No wah-wahing about getting punted off the track by somebody else,pit road or anything else.We all know who has the better car and pit crew.The other stuff is part of racing luck.I will say one thing.Preece has got his opportunity now.Now he has to make the most of it.I don’t know that Joe Gibbs will be as patient as say Jack Roush was with Stenhouse,Busch,or Ragan.
“I don’t have one thing against Ryan Preece but I’m pretty sure if you look at how he and Ross Chastain ran [we could have a big time comparing oranges to apples]”–04
“Surely if Chastain was so good, [we could all have watermelon and so on and so forth…]”--The Mason Dixon Line
Can’t Chastain and Preece both be “good”, you know, like Blaney and Elliot?
I am not familiar with either driver enough to make a call, but typically in the “who’s best” discussions I favor the guy that will put it three wide (either side), the guy that is not afraid to use the bumper (though not “dirty”), the guy that is clearly carrying the car.
Stats are nice, but kind of beside the point in my book…
Preece passed Ryan Newman on the last lap to win yesterday’s Modified All Star race at New Hampshire…
I’d say that’s a pretty good addition to his resume’…!
Ryan also qualified 6th for the race… only behind Kyle Busch, Keselowski, Larson, Tifft and Hemric.
Ahead of Byron, Dillon, Sadler, Allgaier, and Gaughan… all winners in that series.
