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Preston Pardus

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Preston J. Pardus (born February 15, 1997) is an American professional racing driver who competes in the Sports Car Club of America as well as part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 50 Chevrolet Camaro for his own team, Pardus Racing, and the No. 36 Camaro for DGM Racing. Pardus won the Spec Miata class at the 2017 SCCA National Championship Runoffs and claimed the 2020 Super Sweep in the Spec Miata division. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dan Pardus.

Preston Pardus
Pardus at Sonoma Raceway in 2024
BornPreston J. Pardus
(1997-02-15) February 15, 1997 (age 27)
New Smyrna Beach, Florida, U.S.
Achievements2023 SCCA National Championship Runoffs champion (Spec Miata)
2021 SCCA National Championship Runoffs champion (Spec Miata)
2020 SCCA Super Sweep (Spec Miata)
2020 SCCA National Championship Runoffs champion (Spec Miata)
2017 SCCA National Championship Runoffs champion (Spec Miata)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
27 races run over 6 years
Car no., teamNo. 50 (Pardus Racing)
No. 36 (DGM Racing)
2023 position49th
Best finish36th (2021)
First race2019 CTECH Manufacturing 180 (Road America)
Last race2024 Drive for the Cure 250 (Charlotte Roval)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 3 0
Statistics current as of October 26, 2024.

Racing career

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Racing Spec Miatas, Pardus won the 2017 SCCA National Championship Runoffs on a last-lap pass.[1] Pardus was also selected by Mazda Motorsports as a finalist to compete at the Mazda Road to 24 Shootout in late 2017.[2] In 2019, Pardus started the Super Tour off with a win at Sebring International Raceway in January, competing in the Central Florida region of the SCCA.[3] He went on to win the SCCA Majors Southeast Conference Championship that year, topping a series with over 150 entrants.[4]

 
Pardus in his Xfinity Series debut in 2019 at Road America

In August 2019, Pardus made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the 2019 CTECH Manufacturing 180 at Road America. While the start came with his family Pardus Racing Inc. team, Pardus' car was an old Chip Ganassi Racing chassis, was powered by an Earnhardt Childress Engines engine, and the at-track effort was headed by Tony Furr, who served as crew chief.[5] He returned to the series in July 2020 for the Pennzoil 150 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, driving for DGM Racing.[6] After starting 19th, Pardus ended the race in tenth for his first top-ten finish in NASCAR.[7] At the SCCA Runoffs that year, Pardus avoided a first-lap melee and went from seventh to the lead on the final lap to claim his second Runoffs victory in the Spec Miata class. In doing so, he also garnered the 2020 Super Sweep award for the Spec Miata division, awarded to any driver who wins the Runoffs, point standings and a major conference championship in the same season.[8]

 
Pardus in the DGM Racing No. 90 car at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in 2021
 
Pardus in the DGM Racing No. 91 car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2022

In 2021, Pardus returned to DGM for the second year in a row to run the road course races in the Xfinity Series. In his first race on his schedule, the Daytona Road Course, he was entered in the team's No. 91, a new part-time fourth car for them, but due to there being over 40 cars on the entry list and the race not having qualifying, the No. 91 was excluded and missed the field as a result of being too low in owner points. DGM then moved Pardus to their full-time No. 90 car, which was to be driven by Caesar Bacarella that weekend until he was replaced by Pardus.[9] He came back to the 91 at the Pit Boss 250. Pardus posted his best finish of 7th at the Charlotte Roval.

 
Pardus' No. 50 car at Sonoma Raceway in 2024

In 2023, Pardus returned to driving for his own team in the Xfinity Series, which he last did in 2019. However, "Inc." was no longer a part of the re-started Pardus family team's name and the No. 43, which the team used in 2019, was taken by Alpha Prime Racing starting in 2023, so the team switched to the No. 50, a number that Pardus' father Dan used in the Cup Series in 1999 driving for Midwest Transit Racing. The first Xfinity Series race Preston and his team would run in 2023 was Circuit of the Americas.[10] He would race two more races for his own team, which were at the Chicago Street Course[11] and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.[12] Also, he would race for SS-Green Light Racing in 2023.[13]

Personal life

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Pardus' father Dan formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and ARCA Re/Max Series.[14] He graduated from Spruce Creek High School in 2015.[14]

His family owns Danus Utilities, Inc., an underground utility company that Pardus works for when he is not racing. Danus Utilities has also sponsored his race cars.[6]

Motorsports career results

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SCCA National Championship Runoffs

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Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status
2015 Daytona Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 19 5 Running
2017 Indianapolis Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 1 2 Running
2018 Sonoma Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 5 10 Running
2019 VIR Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 2 2 Running
2020 Road America Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 1 9 Running
2021 Indianapolis Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 1 2 Running
2022 VIR Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 8 2 Running
2023 VIR Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 1 2 Running
2024 Road America Mazda Miata Mazda Spec Miata 3 5 Running

NASCAR

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(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

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NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2019 Pardus Racing Inc. 43 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA
36 		DAR IND LVS RCH ROV
27 		DOV KAN TEX PHO HOM 73rd 11 [15]
2020 DGM Racing 36 Chevy DAY LVS CAL PHO DAR CLT BRI ATL HOM HOM TAL POC IND
10 		KEN KEN TEX KAN ROA
8 		DAY
31 		DOV DOV DAY DAR RCH RCH BRI LVS TAL 44th 74 [16]
90 ROV
32 		KAN TEX MAR PHO
2021 91 DAY DAY
DNQ 		COA
14 		CLT 36th 127 [17]
90 DAY
33 		HOM LVS PHO ATL MAR TAL DAR DOV MOH
25 		TEX NSH POC ROA
16 		ATL NHA GLN
23 		IND
35 		MCH DAY DAR RCH BRI LVS TAL ROV
7 		TEX KAN MAR
18 		PHO
2022 91 DAY CAL LVS PHO ATL COA
14 		RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR TEX CLT PIR NSH ROA
11 		ATL NHA POC IND
29 		MCH GLN
21 		DAY DAR KAN BRI TEX TAL ROV
21 		LVS HOM MAR PHO 42nd 100 [18]
2023 Pardus Racing 50 Chevy DAY CAL LVS PHO ATL COA
36 		RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR CLT CSC
12 		ATL NHA POC ROA MCH IRC
24 		GLN DAY DAR KAN BRI TEX ROV
DNQ 		LVS HOM MAR PHO 49th 45 [19]
SS-Green Light Racing 08 Ford PIR
31 		SON NSH
2024 Pardus Racing Inc. 50 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO COA
DNQ 		RCH MAR TEX TAL DOV DAR CLT SON
25 		IOW NHA NSH CSC
32 		POC IND MCH DAY DAR ATL GLN BRI KAN TAL ROV
21 		LVS HOM MAR
24 		PHO -* -* [20]
DGM Racing 36 Chevy PIR
38

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

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  1. ^ "Preston Pardus Tops 72-Car Spec Miata Field". Speed Sport. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  2. ^ "$100,000 Mazda Road to 24 Shootout Finalists Announced". BFGoodrich Racing. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  3. ^ "SCCA Super Tour Season Begins in Sebring". Speed Sport. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  4. ^ "U.S. Majors Tour Southeast Conference 2019 Point Champions". SCCA. August 22, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  5. ^ Kelly, Godwin. "Volusia's Pardus Racing seeks to make NASCAR debut in in[sic] Xfinity race". Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Srigley, Joseph (July 3, 2020). "Preston Pardus Looking to Use Advantage of Indy Road Course Experience to Record Solid Finish in Saturday's Pennzoil 150". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  7. ^ Cain, Holly (July 4, 2020). "Chase Briscoe Earns Hard-Fought NASCAR Xfinity Win at Indianapolis". Autoweek. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  8. ^ "Pardus Conquers 77-Car Spec Miata Field". Speed Sport. October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  9. ^ Srigley, Joseph (February 16, 2021). "Preston Pardus Returning to NASCAR Xfinity Series, DGM Racing at Daytona's Road Course". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  10. ^ "(Twitter post)". Twitter. Preston Pardus. March 3, 2023.
  11. ^ Luken Glover (June 26, 2023). "Entry List: 2023 The Loop 121". www.frontstretch.com/. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  12. ^ Yash Soni (August 9, 2023). "NASCAR 2023 Xfinity Series: Full entry list for Pennzoil 150 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  13. ^ Joseph Srigley (May 30, 2023). "Preston Pardus Tapped to Drive for SS GreenLight Racing No. 08 at Portland". www.tobychristie.com. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  14. ^ a b Kelly, Godwin (May 8, 2013). "Family affair: Former NASCAR driver Pardus introduces his kids to Daytona". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "Preston Pardus – 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  16. ^ "Preston Pardus – 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  17. ^ "Preston Pardus – 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  18. ^ "Preston Pardus – 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  19. ^ "Preston Pardus – 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  20. ^ "Preston Pardus – 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
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