His Chase hopes on the ropes, Preece chasing a ‘home run’ in New Hampshire

Ryan Preece’s racing with the added comfort of competing at his home track this weekend. It’s a good thing, too, because the pressure’s on and time’s running out to save his hopes of making the NASCAR Cup Series Chase.

His No. 60 team’s down in the bottom of the ninth – and they’re swinging for the fences.

“I was just in the trailer and (crew chief Derrick Finley) said, ‘We need a home run right now,’” Preece told assembled media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday morning. “That’s the plan.”

Preece started the year on a high note, scoring his first victory against NASCAR Cup Series competition in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. It was a career-defining moment and the only notable win for RFK Racing this year, but as an exhibition it didn’t come with any points.

Two dozen points-paying races later, the 35-year-old wishes it had. Preece sat as high as 12th amid a quiet, consistent start to the season. But in a down year that’s seen RFK Racing struggle to find top-end speed, the veteran has just five top-10s and has failed to finish any higher than eighth.

Despite showing consistency through the year – Preece has an average finish of 17.5, with 17 of his 24 finishes coming inside of the top-20 – a few bad weeks, one controversial 25-point penalty and a lack of stage points have left the Connecticut native just outside of the provisional Chase field with two races left in the regular season.

The penalty came back at Texas Motor Speedway in May, when Preece was determined to have intentionally crashed Ty Gibbs after an earlier run-in. He still sat 13th in the standings at the time, but a stretch of four-straight races with finishes of 28th or worse from Charlotte's Coca-Cola 600 through Pocono in June dropped Preece to 19th.

That left him with no margin for error through the summer stretch. Another pair of tough days at Chicagoland Speedway and EchoPark Speedway in July have seen him trapped below the cutline and unable to close within striking range as time runs out, even with the aid of a couple top-10s at North Wilkesboro Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Preece is looking for a home run on home ground this weekend. Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Given Ford’s general strength on flat tracks, there was hope Preece could close the gap – and he has risen back up to 17th. But an unexpected poor run at Iowa Speedway and an untimely caution that relegated him to 17th in Richmond Raceway while benefiting his closest rival, Shane van Gisbergen, has left Preece 50 points back in the drivers’ standings. The owner point standings are unaffected by the penalty and see Preece with a manageable 25-point gap to close up.

Despite not consistently scoring the results he wanted, Preece felt his No. 60 team handled the stretch from North Wilkesboro through Richmond well.

“(At) North Wilkesboro, things went well for us just because of the way the race and the way (it) played out,” Preece said. “Iowa, I thought, was a struggle for us in general. … We went to Richmond, qualified up front, ran up front and then an untimely yellow ruined our day. We didn’t go to Richmond (and) run 25th or 30th.

“I felt like we took a step in the right direction after Iowa for Richmond and then I feel like we’re going to take another step when we come here today.”

Making that leap forward at New Hampshire will be key. With next week’s regular season finale taking place at the unpredictable Daytona International Speedway, there’s a sense that the "Magic Mile" provides the final opportunity for Preece’s team to control its own destiny..

Preece plans to go into Daytona “on offense” regardless of this weekend’s results. But the hope is to put together a strong run at his home track and avoid needing a Hail Mary at the "World Center of Speed."

“Realistically, if we’re within 10-15 (points) of Shane (van Gisbergen) or Austin (Cindric) going into that race we, without a doubt, have a chance,” Preece said. “Because they’re going to be going into that race with the mindset of, ‘Hey, we need to finish and not put ourselves in jeopardy.’

“You give up stage points and next thing you know, by the end of Stage 2, if the person goes out and does what we’ve done in the past, getting a lot of stage points, it puts them in ‘Oh Boy’ mode.”

In order to do that, he’ll either need some help from rival misfortune or a big weekend himself in New Hampshire. Preece is a believer in controlling what he can control and doesn’t plan to track van Gisbergen or Cindric, so his focus lies on weekend-long execution.

“Qualifying up front, (earning) a lot of stage points,” Preece said when asked about his goals. “Contending for a win, if not winning.

“Without a doubt, I feel like (Team) Penske has shown that the short track program for Fords is there. Last week, Austin had a great points day, which he needed.”

Preece’s analysis of Penske is sound. Logano’s been on a roll and Cindric set the template for Chase-saving success last weekend in Richmond, coming home third to position himself to clinch a spot in the Chase field.

One week later, Preece hopes to replicate that effort to give himself a fighting chance in Florida.