As the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour heads back to the Waterford Speedbowl, it seems like everyone is hoping to see Doug Coby v. Ryan Preece: Round Three.
Coby got the upper-hand on Preece in Round One two years ago on a green-white-checkered finish. On that night, Coby took the inside on the final restart and ran Preece up the racing surface in turn one just enough to slow Preece’s run off the corner.
A year later came Round Two and this time it was Preece stealing the win away from Coby on yet another green-white-checkered. This time Coby took the outside on the final restart, but spun the tires just enough to let Preece stay underneath him through the corner and giving him the advantage off turn two.
“It could happen,” Coby said. “I think we’d both agree that we’d like it to happen because that means we are both getting out of there with a good finish.”
The Tour returned to Waterford in 2012 following a six-year absence and Coby and Preece — the last two Tour champions — have finished 1-2 in each race. But Coby was quick to point out that there are plenty of other drivers on the Tour that get around The Bowl really well and should be contenders to win.
“There’s just a lot of guys who get around Waterford really well,” he said. “Donny, Ted, Justin, Silk, Rowan, they’re all gonna be going there to win the race like they are every week.”
Preece said he is hoping for a strong finish on Saturday night and that it could be catalyst for a summer resurgence after a slow start to his title defense.
“Things can only go up,” said Preece. “Things just haven’t worked out our way and hopefully things are going to change. Hopefully these next few races in the summer months can be a little bit better to us.”
So will it be another Coby-Preece duel on Saturday night?
“Only time will tell,” said Preece. “I’m sure we’ll find out Saturday night.”
