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08/22 11:58 CDT Ryan Preece is embracing his New England roots while seeking
the last spot in NASCAR's Chase
Ryan Preece is embracing his New England roots while seeking the last spot in
NASCAR's Chase
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) --- Amid the attention and pressure of racing for NASCAR Cup
Series 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, the 10-race championship run 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.
"We need a home run," Preece said. "That's the plan."
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's Modified Series race at New Hampshire).
Ryan Preece Motorsports has a crew full of locals with nicknames like "John the
Plumber" who have been helping the driver since he was a teenager.
"We have nicknames for each and every one of them," said Preece, 35. "It's an
opportunity to race with guys that I've 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's important
to race more. I don't think it's a distraction."
New Hampshire's flat 1.058-mile oval is a critical opportunity for Preece, who
finished 17th at Richmond Raceway last week 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 "The Magic Mile" vs. two
NASCAR races at New Hampshire for van Gisbergen, who has only a few seasons of
oval experience after a career of racing on road and street courses before
entering NASCAR.
"When 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," Preece said. "There are things that Shane does phenomenally on road
courses. We all have tendencies that we're better at than others, but going
into New Hampshire, I feel like being from New England, it's my people. It's a
place that I've been racing at since I was 16 years old."
His career highlight at New Hampshire was a Modified Series victory on a
last-lap pass in 2021.
"I've definitely had a lot of memories, and it would be nice to add one with a
win in the Cup Series here," Preece said. "I've loved everything about this
place."
Lobster tales After winning last September at New Hampshire, Ryan Blaney will receive his trophy on Sunday -- a 20-pound lobster mounted on a plaque. Teammate Joey Logano said he started the tradition for the "Loudon the Lobster" trophy in 2009 when he scored the first of his 39 Cup victories. "They were like: ?What do you want to do with the lobster? We'll just ship it to you,'" Logano said. "I was like: ?Alive? Why don't you just put it on a plaque?' I've got a couple on the wall. It's a good icebreaker when people come to your house and see a lobster on the wall."
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. "The grind was a lot harder last year with (27) races in a row," Bell said. "That was brutal. The schedule being broken up a lot more this year was great."
Odds and ends Blaney (+425) is the favorite for Sunday's race, followed by Logano (+475) and Bell (+475). ... 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. ___ See AP's full auto racing coverage here
Lobster tales After winning last September at New Hampshire, Ryan Blaney will receive his trophy on Sunday -- a 20-pound lobster mounted on a plaque. Teammate Joey Logano said he started the tradition for the "Loudon the Lobster" trophy in 2009 when he scored the first of his 39 Cup victories. "They were like: ?What do you want to do with the lobster? We'll just ship it to you,'" Logano said. "I was like: ?Alive? Why don't you just put it on a plaque?' I've got a couple on the wall. It's a good icebreaker when people come to your house and see a lobster on the wall."
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. "The grind was a lot harder last year with (27) races in a row," Bell said. "That was brutal. The schedule being broken up a lot more this year was great."
Odds and ends Blaney (+425) is the favorite for Sunday's race, followed by Logano (+475) and Bell (+475). ... 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. ___ See AP's full auto racing coverage here
