LOUDON, N.H. (AP) 鈥� Amid the attention and pressure of racing for title stakes this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Ryan Preece is hanging loose with his hometown crowd.
The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver is on the bubble for making the field of 16 drivers who will compete in the Chase, that closes the season. With two races remaining in the regular season, Preece is ranked 50 points behind Shane van Gisbergen for the final spot in the Chase.
鈥淲e need a home run,鈥� Preece said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the plan.鈥�
But he scoffs at the idea of walling off the outside world to focus solely on his No. 60 Ford. Preece instead has embraced the frenzy of racing around his roots as a rallying point for his last-ditch charge at the Chase.
The Berlin, Connecticut, native has spent the week in New England competing with his family-owned team at minor league races across the region (including Saturday鈥檚 Modified Series race at New Hampshire).
Ryan Preece Motorsports has a crew full of locals with nicknames like 鈥淛ohn the Plumber鈥� who have been helping the driver since he was a teenager.
鈥淲e have nicknames for each and every one of them,鈥� said Preece, 35. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to race with guys that I鈥檝e known forever. They just enjoy racing and having some fun. I live for getting behind the wheel of a race car, not sitting in a room analyzing what people are going to do. Because if you race enough, you can predict what people are going to do. So I think it鈥檚 important to race more. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a distraction.鈥�
New Hampshire鈥檚 flat 1.058-mile oval is a critical opportunity for Preece, and fell 21 points further behind 16th in the Chase standings.
Ford drivers have been dominant recently at New Hampshire, leading 275 of 301 laps last year while taking three of the top four spots.
Preece has 40 NASCAR starts at the track known as 鈥淭he Magic Mile鈥� vs. two NASCAR races at New Hampshire for van Gisbergen, who has only a few seasons of oval experience after a career of .
鈥淲hen I go to New Hampshire and the feel that I look for, that there are certain things I can do pretty well, where Shane is still trying to figure out,鈥� Preece said. 鈥淭here are things that Shane does phenomenally on road courses. We all have tendencies that we鈥檙e better at than others, but going into New Hampshire, I feel like being from New England, it鈥檚 my people. It鈥檚 a place that I鈥檝e been racing at since I was 16 years old.鈥�
His career highlight at New Hampshire was a Modified Series victory on a last-lap pass in 2021.
鈥淚鈥檝e definitely had a lot of memories, and it would be nice to add one with a win in the Cup Series here,鈥� Preece said. 鈥淚鈥檝e loved everything about this place.鈥�
Lobster tales
After winning last September at New Hampshire, Ryan Blaney will receive his trophy on Sunday 鈥� a 20-pound lobster mounted on a plaque.
Teammate Joey Logano said he started the tradition for the 鈥淟oudon the Lobster鈥� trophy in 2009 when he scored the first of his 39 Cup victories.
鈥淭hey were like: 鈥榃hat do you want to do with the lobster? We鈥檒l just ship it to you,鈥欌�� Logano said. 鈥淚 was like: 鈥楢live? Why don鈥檛 you just put it on a plaque?鈥� I鈥檝e got a couple on the wall. It鈥檚 a good icebreaker when people come to your house and see a lobster on the wall.鈥�
Time to rest
Christopher Bell, who has won two of the past four Cup races at New Hampshire, said his team is feeling more refreshed this season, which included a second off week in midsummer. Easter weekend was the only break in the 2025 schedule.
鈥淭he grind was a lot harder last year with (27) races in a row,鈥� Bell said. 鈥淭hat was brutal. The schedule being broken up a lot more this year was great.鈥�
Odds and ends
Blaney (+425) is the favorite for Sunday鈥檚 race, followed by Logano (+475) and Bell (+475). 鈥� Hendrick Motorsports, the winningest team in NASCAR history, made its most recent trip to victory lane at New Hampshire with Kasey Kahne in July 2012. Since then, the team has 118 victories on 28 tracks.
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