Ryan Preece delivered a stark warning to NASCAR following a chaotic Daytona 500 that saw William Byron clinch his second consecutive victory in an overtime thriller marred by multiple crashes. The race’s final laps were punctuated by a series of collisions, but none more harrowing than the one involving Preece.
The incident unfolded as Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin battled for position, with Cole Custer nudging Bell into a spin that sent him crashing into the wall. Bell’s car then collided with Preece’s, sending Preece’s vehicle soaring into the air and flipping onto its roof before coming to rest.
In the immediate aftermath, the severity of the crash was palpable, and Preece, upon reflection, expressed deep concern about the safety of the cars. After being checked and released from the care center, the 34-year-old spoke to FOX Sports, sharing his thoughts on the accident and the terrifying moment his car became airborne.
“I don’t know if it’s the diffuser or what that makes these cars like a sheet of plywood when you walk out on a windy day,” Preece commented. “But when the car took off like that and it got real quiet, all I thought about was my daughter.”
Acknowledging his good fortune in escaping serious injury, Preece underscored the gravity of the situation, stating: “So I’m lucky to walk away. But we’re getting really close to someone not being able to. So very grateful. That sucks. This thing was fast.”
He concluded with a heartfelt appeal to NASCAR officials, reminding them of his personal stakes: “I’ve got a two year old daughter. I don’t know what the right thing to say right now is but I think that the thing I want to say as a father, as a racer is we keep beating on a door, hoping for a different result.
“And I think we know where there’s a problem at superspeedways, so I don’t want to be the example of when it finally does get somebody. I don’t want it to be me. I’ve got a two-year-old daughter and just like a lot of us, we have families. So something needs to be done because cars lifting off the ground like that.”
Preece pointed out that his latest crash was even more perilous than his 2023 Daytona accident. “Airborne, heading toward the fence. I mean, it’s just it’s not a good place to be in so honestly with a hit like that, I had a head-on impact. I don’t really think it should have gone airborne, right?
“So I’m just not very, very happy. But ultimately, I think the thing I want to say is we had a really fast car. It’s just you can only do so much when everybody stacks up so, you know, I’m safe – just frustrated.”
After the crash, Preece appeared to regain his composure, but FOX Sports commentators Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer were visibly shaken by what they had just seen. As they watched the replays, Bowyer exclaimed: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one get up in a wheelie like that and blow over. I’m so glad to see his window net down and him be able to get out of that thing. Woo, that’s scary.”
Harvick weighed in with equal astonishment, saying: “It’s unbelievable what it looks like when these cars get caught by the air like that. I’m with you Clint, I’ve never seen a car take off with a wheelie like that. But they just flip around like they don’t weigh 36000 pounds.”
This article originally appeared on Express US
