Should And Will JTG Racing Keep Ryan Preece In 2022 As They Move To A Single Car Team

So far in this 2021 NASCAR season we have seen new teams make their debuts, be announced for the ‘22 season or close operations and JTG Daugherty Racing may be in the closing category. On Tuesday the co-owner of JTG, Brad Daugherty confirmed that the team will move to single car operations for the 2022 season along with the foreseeable future due to lack of funding. Currentally JTG runs two full time cars driven by seasoned vet Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Ryan Preece who is in the middle of his senior season in the Cup Series. When JTG cuts down to the one car they will lose a driver and who that driver will be between Preece and Stenhouse is hard to say overall from a business standpoint as both are very talented drivers, but when it comes to wins Stenhouse has the upper seat with two compared to Ryan’s zero. Now I wanna add that both of Stenhouse’s wins came at plate tracks back in 2017 when he was with Roush Fenway Racing. Overall Stenhouse has been with JTG since 2020 while Preece has been with them mainly since 2019.

From a business standpoint it would most likely be Stenhouse with the full time ride due to him with his two wins in the past at the plates as that is where JTG performs the best. When you also look at it stat wise over the past two seasons Stenhouse blows Preece away, but is also in fewer races with the team.

In 98 races with JTG Ryan Preece has 2 top5s - 9top10s and an average finish of 24.3 with 2021 being his best season so far when it comes to finishes as Preece has a 23.3 average finish.

In 62 races with JTG Ricky Stenhouse Jr 4 top5s - 6 top10s along with a 20.6 average finish and 2021 is also the best season for Stenhouse when it comes to average finish with the team as he sports a 18.6 avg finish.

So overall Stenhouse is better than Preece on paper and that is indisputable, you look at the stats and it shows it. The biggest thing though is that Ryan Preece is more consistent than Ricky Stenhouse and overall he has had more issues than Stenhouse when it comes to pit stops and other car/race problems. Now is that racing? Yes, yes it is but let me remind you of the career best start that Ryan Preece got at the beginning of the season and also the fact that Ryan Preece never crashes under his own bad moves, always falling into other drivers' mistakes, mainly his teammate’s. Ryan Preece has years of modified experience in the Whelen Modified Series along with local racing at his Connecticut home tracks. I do feel overall that Preece is better than Stenhouse and that he can give JTG a whole lot more than what Stenhouse ever can. If I owned the team I would personally keep Preece over Stenhouse as Preece has made more out of the underfunded equipment than Stenhouse. Preece is only a four year Cup driver and his first year he only did five races, so as a whole he only has three years of Cup racing under his belt compared to Stenhouse’s decade plus. Ryan Preece is the backbone of JTG and I simply cannot stress that enough, Preece is as vital of a piece to JTG growing as George Russell is to Williams.

If JTG is smart they have Preece full time with a second part time car for only the restrictor plate races driven by a Xfinity guy or a solid former Cup driver, I would think that it would be a driver like Landon Cassill or Parker Kligerman. With that said Stenhouse would move to a lower team or miss the ‘22 Cup Season.