Former NASCAR Modified Champion Joins JD Motorsports Team
Story By:JD Motorsports Media Photo By:Dick Ayers/Racersguide.com/Getty Images
GAFFNEY, S.C. …The 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series season will see a mix of old and new for JD Motorsports as former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece joins the team alongside returning driver Ross Chastain.
Preece takes over JDM’s No. 1 Chevrolet in 2016. Zach McGowan, already familiar with Preece from working with him in both the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Seres, will be his crew chief. Preece, who won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in 2013, has raced with support from Mohawk Northeast Inc., Mizzy Construction and Falmouth Ready Mix.
“It’s a great opportunity to run with Johnny Davis Motorsports,” Preece said. “I’ve been bouncing around between Sprint Cup and XFINITY, and it’s good to have a chance to run XFINITY full-time. It’s a lot of good seat time.
“I love to race, and it’s cool that NASCAR has given us the opportunity to shoot for the Chase and to race for a championship.”
Chastain returns to the team to drive the No. 4 Chevrolet with backing from the watermelon industry. Brian Berry will be the team’s crew chief, with Gary Cogswell also on board at JDM as a co-crew chief and key mechanic across all of the team’s operations.
“I feel like we really overachieved last year, especially since I hadn’t been to a lot of the tracks,” Chastain said. “Now we’re back and we’ve regrouped. The right people are in the right places, and the morale of the whole team is better.”
Eric McClure will also join JDM to drive the team’s No. 0 Chevrolet in the season-opener on Feb. 20 at Daytona Int’l Speedway. Todd Myers will be crew chief. Reynolds Wrap will be McClure’s sponsor.
“Johnny’s organization has come a long way,” McClure said. “It’s fitting that at this stage of my career that I can come back and partner up with a guy who knows how to race and knows how to maximize his opportunities. My career has sort of come full circle.”
JDM plans to field the No. 0 car throughout the season and is actively pursuing driver/sponsor partnerships going forward.
G&K Services, a long-time JDM sponsor, will return in 2016 as one of the team’s key sponsors.
“Everything is lining up well,” team owner Johnny Davis said. “We expect to have three strong teams when we get things started next month in Daytona. We should be astronomically better than last year. We’re better prepared, and we have more resources.”
