The recent accident involving Ryan Preece at Daytona International Speedway — his second in three years — has rattled fans and left the driver and his NASCAR colleagues deeply shaken. Despite the Next Gen being touted as the safest NASCAR Cup car to date, Preece’s previous airborne incident left him with blood-red eyes, requiring a few weeks of recovery time.
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This time around, after flipping over at Daytona again, Preece issued a stark warning to NASCAR: the sport was teetering on the brink of tragedy. Expressing relief that he managed to walk away unscathed, he said that the day might soon come when someone may not be able to.
But Hendrick Motorsports Veep Jeff Gordon was quick to come to NASCAR’s defense.
Asked about Preece’s remarks during a post-race press conference, Gordon acknowledged the seriousness of the RFK driver’s experiences: “For him, what is that, two years in a row or two years ago that he had that other incident? Of course, he’s going to be vocal about that. You never want to get airborne in a car once, let alone what he’s been through.”
Gordon then highlighted NASCAR’s commitment to safety. “I know NASCAR always is looking at those incidents and trying to figure out what they can do better to keep the cars on the ground,” asserted Gordon.
“As teams, we’ll offer everything we can, but we’re focused on building fast race cars to go win and be safe, and we have to rely on NASCAR to do the testing to try to keep the cars on the ground and be as safe as possible,” he added.
Gordon also noted that since he entered NASCAR and his experience on Superspeedways, there has been a persistent dialogue about enhancing car safety, and that’s why the governing body introduced restrictor plates and initiated pack racing. This, he argues, reflects a balance between providing entertainment and ensuring safety, given the unpredictability of racing outcomes.
Furthermore, he pointed out that as long as cars continue to act like bumper cars at 200 miles per hour, wrecks are going to be inevitable. However, vehicle safety has improved immensely. Following Preece’s 2023 incident where the presence of grass was blamed for exacerbating Preece’s crash, NASCAR responded by removing all the grass from the backstretch.
“All I thought about was my daughter”
Preece was stunned after his harrowing race experience, his thoughts haunted by the possibilities of what might have been. While uncertain whether the diffuser or another factor caused his 3,400-pound vehicle to launch into the air like a toy, his primary concern was for his daughter.
“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. It’s frustrating when you end your day like this,” said the RFK Racing driver.
The chaos unfolded in the final laps, initiated at the front of the pack with only five laps remaining. The incident began when Christopher Bell, leading the outside lane, was nudged off Cole Custer’s bumper. Bell crashed into the outside wall as the rest of the field surged forward. Positioned about five rows back, Preece found himself with no escape route.
The impact saw Preece’s car strike the left front of Bell’s vehicle and hurtle nose-first into the air. The car soared without landing, flipped onto its roof, and continued sliding up the bank before righting itself after another roll.
