08/22/2026
Home Race Looms Large For New Englander Preece With Cup Chase Spot On Offer
By Justin Glenn, SWN Staff Writer
LOUDON, N.H. (Aug. 22, 2026) - Veteran racer Ryan Preece isn’t in uncharted waters as it pertains to his end-of-summer situation in the NASCAR Cup Series.
For a second straight year, Preece finds himself close, but on the outside looking in to the postseason field with two races remaining in the regular season.
He fell short in 2025, but now in year two with RFK Racing Preece is 50 points back of the final spot with only New Hampshire Motor Speedway — his home track — and Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway left to go.
“These are the final two races that can dictate whether you are in the playoffs or not,” said Preece. “When I look at New Hampshire and I look at Daytona, those are two places that I want to say I love ... and hopefully Daytona, for me, is gonna love me back for once. You’ve got to go. You’ve got to be 100 percent ready to execute those days.”
Preece will start 18th on Sunday at Loudon's one-mile flat oval.
Before the final two races, at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Preece had a golden opportunity to take a bite into Shane van Gisbergen’s 16th-seeded advantage. It was Preece‘s ‘bread and butter,’ short track racing, where at Richmond he qualified on pole in 2025. Last Saturday he followed it up by starting sixth.
However, Preece missed the opportunity, didn’t score any stage points and suffered from an unlucky lap-125 caution during a pit cycle for Zane Smith that pinned him back. Preece came home in 17th place.
“Sometimes things don’t go your way. At Indy [an eighth place finish] and Wilkesboro [10th place], we had things go our way. Richmond, I thought we had a pretty good race car that [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] and everybody on the pit crew executed really well,” said Preece. “They made great adjustments, but sometimes you can’t control when cautions come out during pit cycles. Going into the short tracks and New Hampshire, it kind of gives me a little bit of optimism and I’m certainly excited about coming here to my home track – New England.”
The 35-year old said every time he comes to New England it feels different. It’s a sense of comfort and familiarity due to his personal and racing roots. That gives him the most confidence out of any track, short circuit included, and above the recent North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Richmond races to be able to contend.
“We can go here and hopefully qualify well and be a contender,” he said. “Richmond was a good example of having a good car, so we’ll see if we can continue down that path and control the things that we can control and do what we can there.”
Preece has run seven Cup races at Loudon. His best finish is 11th in 2024 at Stewart Haas Racing. In his first year with RFK, he drove from 23rd to finish 14th.
Preece will also run the Whelen Modified Series race on Saturday, a nod to his roots in racing.
But back to the main goal, Preece will have to go up against van Gisbergen. ‘SVG’ hasn’t been a push over with his improvement on ovals. That has led to high confidence that has helped the Kiwi fend off postseason hopefuls to this point. Additionally, two other proven veterans that cannot be counted out from a ‘Hail Mary’ to make the Chase are Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain and RFK co-owner Brad Keselowski, who are 63 and 78 points back, respectively.
Keselowski has a career average finish of 11th at New Hampshire, with two finishes seventh or better in the Next-Gen era. Chastain has four top 10s in his last five ‘Magic Mile’ races, as he was ninth in 2025. What follows is the great equalizer of Daytona, where it can be anyone's game in the draft.
All it takes are points, ex*****on and a little luck.
“We need to show up with a lot of speed, qualify really well – basically executing Saturday, maximize our stage points and have a great result. That’s what it’s gonna take,” Preece said. “I did go back and look at Shane at Richmond. They did a ‘Hail Mary’ and it worked out. Sometimes the ball is in your court and it goes your way, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m looking forward to going to New Hampshire and do the things that we know we can do and it’s gonna be what it may.
“I really appreciated Brad. We're working on trying to make sure that all three RFK cars this weekend are contenders.”
Preece hopes to mirror what Team Penske’s Austin Cindric did at Richmond. Cindric took advantage of Penske’s strong short track program, capitalized off of a circled date, gained stage points and turned the stove down a notch as the summer comes to a close. Cindric came in 16th on the cut line, jumped to 15th and has a chance to climb higher before the reset.
The Berlin, Conn., native will lean on the pressure he faced last year. He was going up against teammate Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick for points at Daytona. Things have changed with a new challenge ahead.
“They [Austin Cindric and the No. 2 team] executed a great day and they did what they needed to do,” said Preece. “For us the goal is to execute. We’re gonna need a little bit of luck on our side for him to not have quite the great day, and then that puts us [head to head] going into Daytona.”
One source Preece plans to lean on Sunday will be aggression. He isn’t a fan of tearing up cars, but understands that reserved driving isn’t always rewarded in a new series precedent where passing is difficult and track position means everything.
“I don’t like doing things that are overly aggressive to the point that it ruins your day, but I’ve also seen that it’s rewarded,” he said. “By no means am I going to tear up a race car. But if I have to throw a big block, I’m gonna have to throw it and it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.”
Coverage of the Dollar Tree 301 from New Hampshire is slated for Sunday, Aug. 23 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
📸: David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography
