(Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ryan Preece walked out of his hauler, sunglasses on, ready for practice ahead of Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
But when he lowers his sunglasses, you see bruises under his eyes — battle scars from Daytona.
With five laps to go in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, Preece got sent spinning down the backstretch and pirouetted through the air, flipping at least 10 times before coming to rest right-side up. He exited the car under his own power and went to a local hospital as a precaution.
Less than 12 hours later, Preece was discharged and returned home to his wife and newborn child. He escaped the wild crash free of injury and got cleared to continue racing.
“I feel like I’m watching a 410 sprint car, or not a wingless sprint car wreck,” Preece said on Saturday at Darlington, recalling the frightening crash. “I’ve seen interviews from other drivers in the past talking about when you get sideways like that and as you go in the air, it gets real quiet. After experiencing that, that’s 100 percent true. Everything beyond that everything is happening so fast and you’re just flipping through the air. Until that ride stops all you’re thinking about is trying to contain yourself. You tense up and you hope that you’re gonna be OK, which, obviously I am and was.”
Ryan Preece flipped 10 times in this violent crash late at Daytona.#NASCAR | @NBC and @Peacock pic.twitter.com/ho1EpXZr3E
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 27, 2023
Preece’s crash happened around 10:20 p.m. ET on Saturday when a push from Erik Jones got him out of shape. By midnight, Preece felt well enough to return home, but medical officials kept him overnight for observation and released him around 6 a.m. on Sunday.
“A lot of people, the difference between us and most people that would go and drive a car is that this is what we’re supposed to be – we’re supposed to be tough,” Preece said. “It’s OK to be tough. It’s OK to do those things. I feel good. My wife even joked with me on Monday morning and said, ‘You got out of bed quicker than me.’ Me as a person, my father raised me to be the way that I am, how tough I am and how I want to be as a person, so it’s OK to be that way.
“I’m fine. My vision is perfect, everything about it. They don’t hurt. They look bad to you guys, but you look at a 410 driver after some flips and they get this. It’s from spinning in the air, all that, the blood flow, I don’t know. I’m not a doctor and a lot of other people out there aren’t either, so what I can tell you is I went through all the tests. I feel fine. If I didn’t feel fine, I wouldn’t be in this car this weekend.”
The bruises underneath Preece’s eyes are common for drivers after crashes with long flips.
Ryan Preece is a badass. pic.twitter.com/scjrecTKrZ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 2, 2023
NASCAR took Preece’s battered No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang back to the R&D Center for a safety evaluation. The roof hitch came undone during the crash and many speculated the window net did as well, but Preece explained that a safety worker unhooked the net after the crash.
It’s not the first wild crash Preece has been a part of this season. At Talladega Superspeedway in the spring, Preece rocketed into the right side of Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, ripping off some of the door and partially exposing the cockpit. NASCAR took both vehicles back to the R&D Center.
While he hasn’t seen the car from the wreck at Daytona, going forward, Preece wants to remain involved in NASCAR’s safety evaluation process.
Preece on track Saturday at Darlington Raceway. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
“As drivers, we want to be very involved in the process, so moving forward I’d like to go see the car,” Preece said. “I’d like to explain to them what I went through as well as figuring out a way to help keep the car on the ground. I mean, we’ve come so far from the early nineties with the roof flaps and all that stuff.
“My crotch belt area didn’t hurt like it did after Kyle Larson and I wrecked at Talladega, so I guess so. But the wreck I had was different. Flipping was completely different, but the cage held up. I don’t think we’ve tested that, nor do I feel like you go through tests to see how that would. You’d just hope that it would and all that stuff was good.”
Although he didn’t qualify for the playoffs, Preece is ready to race in Sunday’s Southern 500 and will start 34th. But was there ever a doubt he’d race this weekend?
“No way. Why? I mean, as a racer, why?” Preece exclaimed. “You go talk to a guy that’s racing a 410 or a modified, we love to race and I feel completely fine, so why stop? I get what you’re saying. It’s OK to not race, but it’s OK to race, and I think that’s what really needs to be said here.”
