Preece “lucky to walk away” from second airborne crash at Daytona

It was not a first time for Ryan Preece to go airborne at Daytona, but hopefully Sunday night’s was his last.

With just 15 laps of the Daytona 500 to go, Christopher Bell was turned from the lead and came skidding back down the track. Eventual race winner William Byron narrowly avoided him, but the car directly behind — Preece, was not so fortunate. The No. 60 Ford immediately went up into the air after slamming into Bell, but not in the way we’ve come to expect. The car did what can only be described as a wheelie as it moved towards the entrance of Turn 3 before twisting enough to let the air fully get under it, flip upside down, and skid down the track before rolling back over and slamming the outside wall. 

Thankfully, he climbed out of the car under his own power. 

“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,” said Preece after being released from the infield care center. “But when the car took off like that and it got real quiet, all I thought about [was] my daughter. I’m lucky to walk away but we’re getting really close to somebody not being able to. Very grateful but yeah, that sucks. This thing was fast.

“It’s frustrating when you end your day like this.”

Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

This was supposed to be the start of a new beginning for Preece, joining RFK Racing in the team’s third entry. The 34-year-old driver was hoping to open a new book in his NASCAR career, but his record of being at the wrong place at the worst time continues to follow him. On the same backstretch during the summer of 2023, he took an even more terrifying tumble while driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. The car flipped nearly a dozen times in a never-ending wreck that resulted in the grass being completely removed from that section (the ‘Le Mans Chicane’ or ‘Bus Stop’) of the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

NASCAR will surely further investigate the crash as they normally do when wrecks like this take place. But for now, let’s hope Preece’s history of airborne excursions is finally behind him.

Photos from Daytona 500