Ryan Preece Goes Back to Victory Lane, Wins at New Smyrna

Less than a week after winning the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Ryan Preece went back to victory lane on Tuesday night at New Smyrna Speedway.

This time, Preece won in the Tour-type Modified division during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, a nine-night festival of racing as part of Florida Speedweeks. Before Preece heads to Daytona International Speedway in pursuit of the Daytona 500, he scored his 14th career World Series Tour-type Modified victory.

Despite the Cook Out Clash being pushed to Wednesday of last week due to historic snowfall in the Carolinas, Preece still made the trip to New Smyrna in time to compete in both his Modified and Super Late Model over the first five nights of the World Series. The time spent at the half-mile paid off with a win on Tuesday.

"I'm just having a lot of fun," said Preece after the race. "These past seven days have been a lot of fun, racing with my dad, racing with my friends. To go from Bowman Gray, drive down here, race the Late Model, and then race this Modified and get back to victory lane, it was really cool."

Even with the win, Preece wished he could have measured himself against one of the best at New Smyrna.

Every year between 2017 and 2025, Matt Hirschman has won at least one World Series of Asphalt Tour-type Modified feature, claiming five World Series titles in that span. However, Hirschman has not been part of the World Series festivities outside of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event on Saturday.

"For years, I've been chasing after that field, and I see the 60 car [that] Matt Hirschman has," said Preece. "I feel like I wish he was here racing, because I have something that could race with him. Maybe next year, we can get that rivalry going again. We'll be good in the long runs."

Regardless of who is in the field, Preece was excited to continue his winning ways. He was also heavily motivated after finishing fourth on Monday night while 14-year-old Paulie Hartwig, III claimed the checkered flag.

"I love winning. I hate losing more than I love winning. Brannon Earnest with JRI Shocks, he told me that a long time ago. We worked really, really hard over the past couple of days. Paulie did a phenomenal job, and he lit a fire under me to really make sure I got it right tonight."

Patrick Emerling finished second, bouncing back from misfortune on Monday. The 2025 Tour-type Modified World Series of Asphalt champion saw his 2026 title hopes dashed by mechanical issues, preventing him from taking the green flag one night ago.

"That was a little turnaround from yesterday," said Emerling. "Unfortunately, in qualifying, had a cracked piston and we were unable to get it changed in time to get out on the racetrack. Hats off to the USNEPower 1 team. I'd like to thank them for the opportunity to come race here.

"We had a good run tonight, had a good car. The 40 was really flying. We have a little bit to go, but we had some fun out there tonight."

Jimmy Blewett rounded out the podium with a third-place finish. Coming off a sixth-place result on Monday, Blewett's searching for race-winning speed but believes his consistency will keep him in the hunt for this season's World Series title.

"We just missed it a little bit on the tires tonight," said Blewett. "We had the stagger open up on us, where last night it closed when I was able to come from the back to the front. A top-three finish for us, it's basically a fresh team with these guys again. This car, we've got no notebook for.

"We're working hard at it. We're going to podium to death. If we can stay up front the rest of the week, we've got a solid shot at taking home this point championship."

Andrew Krause finished fourth, with Monday winner Paulie Hartwig, III rounding out the top five.

-Photo: Screenshot from FloRacing Broadcast

World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing
Tour-type Modified Night Five Unofficial Results