Preece repeats as Rackley Roofing 200 winner

Jun. 28—GLADEVILLE — The 11th Truck Series winner of 2022 was the same as the 2021 Rackley Roofing 200 as Ryan Preece defended his championship at Nashville Superspeedway, claiming the trophy guitar for the second straight year last Friday night.

"I'm going to have to learn how to play," Preece said of his guitar collection after the parttime driver won his second event in just eight Truck Series starts. The Connecticut native, who doesn't have a big manufacturer sponsor to run a full schedule, was also to drive in Saturday's Tennessee Lottery 250 Xfinity Series race.

Zane Smith held off Carson Hocevar for second place as the top three qualifiers finished in the same spots.

Smith led the entire first stage. But a bad mid-race pit stop dropped him back as Preece took over. Smith fell nine spots and spent the rest of the warm evening climbing back through the field toward the top.

Smith took the lead on the first lap. He was still first when Jack Wood was knocked into the wall by Matt Crafton on Lap 7 to bring out the first caution.

Following the restart on Lap 14, Camden Murphy spun out on Lap 21, bringing out another caution.

Smith led all 45 laps of Stage 1 to pick up stage points.

Ty Majeski was first off of Pit Road, followed by Smith, Corey Heim and Preece. Smith quickly shot back into the lead following the restart, followed by Preece and Heim as Majeski fell back to sixth.

That order held as John Hunter Nemechek, running seventh, spun out on Lap 69 after being tapped from behind by Carson Hocevar, bringing out another caution.

Preece took the lead from Smith on the Lap 73 restart. He finished Stage 2 in first place after 95 turns around the track.

A bad pit stop by Smith as his team had trouble with a tire change dropped him to ninth as Parker Klligerman shot into the lead ahead of Preece, who quickly reclaimed the lead on the restart.

Preece was running ahead of Christian Eckes when veteran Todd Bodine spun out with 32 laps remaining.

Eckes and Preece swapped leads shortly after the restart while Smith climbed back to third place with 24 laps to go. Preece was leading when Heim, Matt DiBenedetto and Grant Enfinger collided as they and Majeski were racing four-wide with 23 laps remaining.

Preece maintained the lead on the Lap 134 restart. But Hailie Deegan was hit from behind and spun into the wall to bring he caution right back out with 16 laps remaining.

They tried again with 10 laps remaining with Preece pulling away from Eckes, Smith and Majeski.

By race's end, Preece had repeated as champion by .507 seconds while Smith held off Hocevar for second place as the top three finished as they had started one hour, 56 minutes and 32 seconds earlier. The race had eight cautions for 43 laps.

"I saw (Smith) with about six laps to go," Preece said. "I'm happy he didn't do it sooner."

"We had another fast Ford, just not quite fast enough," Smith said after leading 70 laps.

Preece led 74 laps as he joined Johnny Benson (2006 and '08) and Kyle Busch ('10 and '11) as two-time Truck Series winners at Nashville Superspeedway.

"We just have fast trucks," Preece said of his Nashville success. "This was the first week we loaded really well and not screw it up."

Crafton is the only driver to compete in all 14 Truck Series races at the track since its 2001 opening.

Smith left the Superspeedway with a 21-point standings lead over Nemechek.

2nd annual Rackley Roofing 200

Nashville Superspeedway

Lebanon, Tenn., June 24

(1) Ryan Preece, Ford, 150.

(2) Zane Smith, Ford, 150.

(3) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 150.

(12) Ty Majeski, Toyota, 150.

(9) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 150.

(13) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 150.

(16) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 150.

(36) Max Gutierrez, Chevrolet, 150.

(11) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 150.

(18) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 150.

(5) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 150.

(15) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 150.

(19) Chase Purdy, Toyota, 150.

(24) Dean Thompson #, Chevrolet, 150.

(6) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 150.

(32) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 150.

(20) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 150.

(21) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 150.

(17) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, 150.

(23) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 150.

(29) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 150.

(25) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 150.

(26) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 150.

(30) Lawless Alan #, Chevrolet, 150.

(27) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 150.

(33) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 150.

(31) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 148.

(14) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 144.

(34) Chris Hacker, Toyota, 144.

(22) Tanner Gray, Ford, 143.

(8) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Accident, 132.

(7) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 126.

(4) Corey Heim #, Toyota, Accident, 126.

(28) Camden Murphy, Toyota, Accident, 20.

(10) Jack Wood #, Chevrolet, Accident, 6.

(35) Chase Janes, Toyota, Rear Gear, 1.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 102.717 mph.

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 56 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.507 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 43 laps.

Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: Z. Smith 1-49 T. Majeski 50-53 Z. Smith 54-73 R. Preece 74-98 Z. Smith 99 P. Kligerman 100-101 R. Preece 102-150.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ryan Preece 2 times for 74 laps; Zane Smith 3 times for 70 laps; Ty Majeski 1 time for 4 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 38,17,51,52,18,42,19,66,25,98

Stage #2 Top Ten: 17,38,51,98,52,19,99,66,62,23