Race Weekend Central

JD Motorsports Finalizing Plans for 2017

JD Motorsports will have some familiar faces in its camp next year.

Lead driver Ross Chastain is returning to the No. 4 car, with 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece back in the No. 01 car as well.

“We’re trying hard and we have a lot of great people behind us,” Preece said. “We’re hoping that next year, we can keep on digging. We want more sponsorship and make a lot more great things happen.”

In Preece’s first year with the team, he was able to bring several northeast partners to JD Motorsports, including Meding’s Seafood and Mohawk Northeast. Additionally, Rockstar Energy Drink funded the No. 01 car’s efforts at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October, the first time the company returned to NASCAR since Dylan Kwasniewski left the XFINITY Series.

Chastain’s return to the team comes as he caps off his second full-time season with JD Motorsports. However, he failed to finish in the top 10 this year.

“Before, the [No.] 01 car was leaps and bounds over the [No.] 4 car on the racetrack and business-wise,” Chastain said. “To have equal racecars is a big deal.

“I’ll be back in the [No]. 4 car next year. Me and Johnny shake hands and we’re racecars who want to go racing. We want to do it at the highest level possible, and we’re trying to get this car up the leaderboard.”

While the two drivers are confirmed to be returning, Garrett Smithley is unclear of whether or not he will return to pilot the team’s No. 0 car in 2017.

“Nothing is solid yet,” Smithley said. “We’re still working on sponsors and everything. I think we will be.”

Smithley signed with the team for the second race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway, running each race since. With eight top 20s and a best finish of 12th at Talladega Superspeedway in May, he finished the year 18th in the standings, 53 points behind teammate Preece in 17th.

About the author

Joseph started with Fronstretch in Aug. 2014 and worked his way up to become an editor in less than a year. A native of Whitestone, New York, Joseph writes for NASCAR Pole Position magazine as a weekly contributor, along with being a former intern at Newsday and the Times Beacon Record Newspapers, each on Long Island. With a focus on NASCAR, he runs our social media pages and writes the NASCAR Mailbox column, along with other features for the site.

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Iago Sandyhick

This article is not credible whatsoever

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