NASCAR team looking to end disastrous stretch of last-place finishes

By Asher Fair | Aug 2, 2020

Ryan Preece, JTG Daugherty Racing, NASCAR (Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images) /

JTG Daugherty Racing are looking to not finish in last place in a NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time since the end of June.

The opening race of a loaded seven-race month of August for the NASCAR Cup Series to wrap up the 2020 regular season is scheduled to take place this afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

In this race, the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, JTG Daugherty Racing will be looking to end what has been a disastrous stretch for the organization, the organization that started out the season on a high note with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. taking the pole position for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

It has been since late June since the two-car Chevrolet organization finished a race without one of their drivers placing last.

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In the opening race of July at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ryan Preece was involved in the melee on pit road and was officially scored in 40th (last) place after completing a race-low 14 laps. Stenhouse, who was also involved in the incident, ended up being knocked out of the race just six laps later due to the damaged vehicle policy and was scored in 36th.

The following weekend at Kentucky Speedway, a transmission issue ended Preece’s day early, at which point none of the other 37 drivers had dropped out of contention. Stenhouse had a bad day as well, finishing in 29th place.

At Texas Motor Speedway, Preece again finished in last place, this time as a result of his involvement in 12-car wreck. While multiple drivers were knocked out as a result of this pileup, Preece completed the least amount of laps among them. Stenhouse was among the others knocked out.

Finally at Kansas Speedway, Preece did not finish in last place. But Stenhouse did, as an electrical fire broke out in his #47 Chevrolet early on in the race, ending his night.

However, while Preece finally didn’t finish in last place, his night still did not go well. He was involved in a massive multi-car accident that tore his #37 Chevrolet apart and nearly flipped it up onto its side. Fortunately, he walked away unharmed.

Things are so bad for the team right now that Preece’s 34th place finish as a result of this wreck was actually his best finish in the last four races, and it was the team’s second best finish during that same span (eight combined starts).

Will JTG Daugherty Racing’s disastrous streak of last place finishes end in this Sunday’s 301-lap race around the four-turn, 1.058-mile (1.703-kilometer) oval in Loudon, New Hampshire?

Stenhouse hasn’t finished higher than 30th place at the Magic Mile since 2017, but in 12 starts, he has never finished in last place. As for Preece, he finished in a solid 21st last year in what was just his second start at the track and his first since 2015, when he finished in 32nd.

The odds are in the team’s favor. But when it rains, it pours. The only question is whether things will start to lighten up a bit. Will they at least achieve their first top 28 finish since Stenhouse and Preece finished in 15th and 25th place at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 28?

Stenhouse and Preece currently sit in 25th and 31st place in the championship standings, well out of contention to qualify for the playoffs on points. Will one of them be able to pull off an upset win in one of the seven remaining races on the schedule before the 10-race playoffs begin?

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The Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from New Hampshire Motor Speedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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