NASCAR: The one pass worth 20 positions
By Asher Fair
Ryan Preece’s pass of Bubba Wallace in the final laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway really netted him 20 positions.
With under three laps remaining in Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, the first live race in 10 weeks, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ryan Preece was running in 21st place in his #37 Chevrolet.
Preece was running behind Richard Petty Motorsports’ Bubba Wallace in 20th in his #43 Chevrolet. This one battle was for just one position and one point. But in the long run, it was really worth 20 positions.
That is because the Cup Series is back at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina for another race, the Toyota 500, this evening, and the starting lineup for this race was set based on the finishing order of Sunday’s race.
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The top 20 finishers from Sunday’s 293-lap race are set to start tonight’s 228-lap race in the top 20, but in reverse order.
So Preece’s pass on Wallace for 20th place on lap 291 of 293 this past Sunday netted him the pole position, the first of his Cup Series career. He is set to start tonight’s race alongside 19th place finisher Ty Dillon of Germain Racing in second in his #13 Chevrolet. Meanwhile, Wallace is set to start tonight’s race where he finished, 21st, because he couldn’t hang on to 20th for another two-plus laps.
Preece’s career-best Cup Series start had been 14th place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval last September. Wallace’s was and still is seventh. He started in seventh in the 2018 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and in the race at Kansas Speedway last May.
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Tune in to Fox Sports 1 right now for the live broadcast of the Toyota 500 from the track “Too Tough To Tame”.