“It’s Hard for Me”: Denny Hamlin Details How Disaster Was Averted During Terrifying Crash at Daytona

NASCAR witnessed a horrifying wreck at the Daytona International Speedway last weekend. Toward the closing stages of the race, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Preece lost control of his car and barrel-rolled a dozen times at the infield before coming to a rest. The sheer magnitude of the wreck could have led to grave consequences, but thankfully, Preece was able to walk out without any tangible harm.

After reports of Preece leaving the hospital emerged, fellow NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin spoke about the incident on his podcast. He analyzed how the wreck could have resulted in a potentially tragic injury and how Preece was lucky enough to have walked out of the crash unharmed.

Denny Hamlin analyzes what saved Ryan Preece in the Daytona wreck

Speaking on Actions Detrimental, the JGR driver said, “I mean, we got news that Ryan’s out of hospital on his way to Charlotte now so seems like he’s fine. We got a tweet from last night. So I think he’s going to be okay. So we can comment on it but holy *** that thing was violent. That was the most violent barrel roll I’ve ever seen…”

“…It’s hard for me to put myself in that position to feel what he felt. And I was looking to see like he was very lucky to not, when he hit the ground each time that it was so you hit the car grabbed went up started twisting. Then when it comes back down. You don’t want it to land flat on anything.”

Hamlin observed that there was a considerable risk of a spinal compression fracture if Preece landed squarely on his wheels. The risk was mainly due to the rigidity of the underbody on these next-gen cars. He added that once the tires blew out, a direct impact on the ground would have resulted in a jarring impact, potentially leading to a serious spinal injury.

“And he was very lucky that when the car first made, when the car made contact again for the second time to the ground, it was kind of like on the corner of the car, and it kept rolling… Then it twisted more the next contact again, kind of on the side of the car. So he never really had, I don’t want to downplay it’s, he never had one where bam it lands flat on on on the base of the wheels…”

Ryan Preece has been released from the Hospital

Following his harrowing wreck, Preece was transported to the nearby Halifax Health Medical Center, where he was due to spend the night for further observation. Thankfully, as per the latest reports, the SHR driver has successfully made it out of the hospital and headed back to his home in North Carolina.

Despite how violent the wreck looked, Preece seemed to be in good spirits. He even assured his fans about his well-being earlier by sending out a tweet on social media. In the tweet, he highlighted how he was looking forward to coming back soon. Although, at the moment it remains to be seen if Preece returns to the next race at Darlington.