Preston Pardus is a winner by trade. With five national championships in the Sports Car Club of Americas (SCCA) Spec Miata division, he earned the nickname “P-Money.”
“I don’t use it [in NASCAR] because I don’t win nothing,” Pardus told Jayski.com with a chuckle. “It’s not worth it to put on the name rail.”
Pardus jumped at his first opportunity to compete in NASCAR with his family-operated team, qualifying 15th in the Xfinity Series race at Road America in 2019. In 2020, he earned a pair of top-10 finishes with DGM Racing, as the road-course specialist proved he could compete against larger organizations. In 31 career starts, he has a trio of top 10s, with a best effort of seventh in 2021 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
“When we knocked off our first top 10, I thought maybe we got a little lucky and things went well,” Dan Pardus, Preston’s father and a longtime racer, said. “Then, he was able to back it up and do it again and again.
“It was rewarding and gratifying for the whole family, being a family-run team, running on a small budget to be able to do that at this level. It gave me a lot of confidence in Preston as a driver who had that ability. He just needed more seat time and better equipment to move on.”
Since the beginning of 2023, most of Pardus’ starts have come in the No. 50 Pardus Racing entry. He has shined in qualifying, putting his Chevrolet inside the top 20 on five occasions. As Dan explained, the first battle is just making the race, showing up without a guaranteed starting spot.
The family team runs the No. 50 car out of its shop in New Smyrna, Florida, roughly 15 miles south of Daytona Beach. It has two chassis total, one that is centered for its road-course efforts and another that’s used for short tracks as Pardus sprinkles in some oval starts. The engine is a purchased motor from Earnhardt-Childress Racing, roughly 10 to 15 horsepower less than a leased engine.
To fully prepare the No. 50 car, the Parduses will drive further south to DGM’s Lake Whales, Florida headquarters to assure that the chassis is race ready. And while Pardus has a road-course background, he doesn’t believe it translates to the Xfinity Series with the Spec Miatas being significantly lighter than a 3,400-pound stock car.
“I think it hurt me for a while because I tried to drive them similar and you can’t,” Pardus added. “The cool thing about Miata racing is the draft is so huge there. The racing is so close and with less than 45 minute races, any mistake you make will put you to the back of the pack and work your way back up. It teaches you to try not to make mistakes because you can’t afford to do it in those races because they are so short.”
Jumping to Xfinity was no small task for Pardus. Being rewarded with early success gave the now 28-year-old confidence that he can compete at a high level against some of the best drivers in the series.
“We’re definitely proving it to ourselves because we were going up against JR Motorsports, RCR, [Joe Gibbs Racing], all the Cup teams,” Pardus said. “Even when we do it with Mario, he has no alliance, going up against the big teams on a fraction of the budget. It’s cool and rewarding to know that we can do it ourselves.”
The elder Pardus knows he has to be smart about which tracks to bring the No. 50 car to. With how the 2025 schedule laid out, it didn’t make logistical sense for the family team – with a few extra helpers – to make trips to Mexico City or out West to Sonoma Raceway. Dan also doesn’t want to take away from the road-course program, though Pardus is set to compete at Martinsville Speedway in the penultimate race of the season.
“I don’t want to get too excited and get him on some ovals and [diminish the road course side],” Dan stated. “The only way I’d be able to do that is to put him in C-class cars and not have good equipment on an oval. I’m not sure that’s going to do him any good as far as the reputation as a driver if I put him in C-class or D-class cars and him finishing 30th versus waiting for the right opportunity and put him in an oval-track car and get a much better finish. I need to get him a top-15 in an oval car, and that’s what we’re shooting for at Martinsville.
“We’ve got to be sure that we can get into the show and we need top 15s to be satisfied when we load that car back on the trailer at the end of the day.”
Admittedly, cracking the top 15 is “like a win” for Pardus given the stout competition. In his oval debut at Martinsville in 2021, he placed 18th for DGM.
Dan stated: “My hope is somebody sees that and realizes that if Preston can do that in that equipment and he’s done it numerous times, what can he do in top-notch equipment?”
When not at the race track, Pardus is the assistant general manager at Dan’s company – Danus Utilities Inc. – in Sanford, Florida working 10-hour days. He handles all the administrative permitting and legal documents. He also oversees vehicle maintenance at the shop and works out in the field. After clocking out, he returns home to prepare the No. 50 car, assuring its up to date.
The goal is to one day be full time in NASCAR. But realistically, the No. 50 bunch is maxed out at six races per year, leaning heavily on road courses.
“I would love to do it on a full-time basis, but we can’t as a team do it more than what we’re doing,” Pardus stated. “We’re doing what we can.”
The most special part for the Parduses is they are doing it together.
When Preston was an infant, Dan was away on most weekends chasing his own dream, as a regular in the Goody’s Dash Series and making 19 national touring series starts and 38 starts in the ARCA Menards Series.
Pardus will compete this weekend at the Charlotte road course with his father nearby. The team is working with 20-time Cup Series winning crew chief Steve Addington to call the shots for the No. 50 car.
“We can’t get the best equipment, but the stuff that we do have is good enough to be semi-competitive,” Pardus said. “That’s cool because he’s living his dream out a little bit.”