“I’ve never seen a car do that” reacted FOX Sport’s broadcast booth, after seeing Ryan Preece’s terrifying crash at Daytona International Speedway. The RFK Racing driver flipped with just five laps to go, after Christopher Bell received a big shove from Cole Custer, which sent the No. 20 Toyota spinning. Caught in the crossfire, the No. 60 Ford’s front end went airborne, before turning over and rolling on the racetrack and landing on its tires.

A feeling of déjà vu would have been on the mind of Preece, who has been in a similar situation before. Thankfully, the Connecticut native escaped from both incidents unscathed.

Ryan Preece was lucky to escape the Daytona wreck unscathed

The word horrific would be an understatement, as echoes of his 2023 crash at the ‘World Center of Racing’ would have gone through his mind. At that time, the racer was competing in the No. 41 car for Stewart-Haas Racing before being involved in the late-race incident. The scary scenes prompted Daytona to pave its infield on the backstretch, to reduce the possibility of such a wreck occurring again.

Ryan Preece could be seen bracing himself in the onboard camera as his car went airborne. The driver knew how dangerous that was, as these 3000-pound Next-Gen cars crashing into the ground at that speed can be fatal. What made it worse was how long Preece’s car was essentially performing a ‘wheelie’ on top of Erik Jones’ #43 Toyota. Preece was lucky to not be seriously injured and shared his thoughts after exiting the race.

In the aftermath of the incident, Ryan Preece was checked and released from the care center and went on to say, “Yeah 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. But when the car took off like that, it got real quiet. All I thought about was my daughter, so I’m lucky to walk away, but we’re getting really close to somebody not being able to, so I’m very grateful. That sucks. I mean this thing was fast. It’s frustrating when you end your day like this.”

One can argue that his crash at Daytona International Speedway in 2023 was even worse. Driving the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, his vehicle skidded over the Le Mans Chicane, rolling almost a dozen times on the backstretch grass before coming to a halt. Audible gasps could be heard across the racetrack as emergency personnel rushed in to assist the driver. Eventually, Preece was hospitalized overnight while NASCAR conducted a safety review.

Ryan Preece was not the only driver caught up in the incident, as Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, and Daniel Suarez also suffered varying degrees of damage. However, the result was particularly disappointing for the No. 60 Ford driver, who was forced to settle for a 32nd-place result on his RFK Racing debut. While his 2025 campaign has not begun on the most ideal note, the racer will aim to turn his circumstances around at the upcoming Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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Preece urges NASCAR to make changes after Daytona scare

Back in 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s tragic death at Daytona International Speedway led to a drastic overhaul of safety standards. Before his passing, nine drivers had succumbed to similar crashes in NASCAR, but since then, the sport has not seen a single fatality at a major NASCAR event. The sanctioning body’s change in approach towards drivers’ safety was revolutionary, and Ryan Preece wants more measures to be taken after enduring yet another horrific crash at the ‘World Center of Racing’.

Speaking after the race, the RFK Racing driver said, “I don’t know what the right thing to say right now is, but the thing I want to say right now as a father and as a racer is we keep beating on a door hoping for a different result. We know where there’s a problem at superspeedways; I don’t want to be the example. When it finally does get someone, I don’t want it to be me. I’ve got a two-year-old daughter; just like a lot of us. We have families. Something needs to be done cause cars lifting off the ground like that felt honestly worse than Daytona in ’23.”

The Next-Gen car has been lauded for its safety standards and rightfully so. Despite the horrific incident at the 2.5-mile tri-oval, Ryan Preece escaped relatively unscathed on two separate occasions. The racer urging NASCAR to be proactive instead of reactive in such an instance is a wise decision, as it could prevent a fatality if the sanctioning body takes adequate measures when the warning signs are there for all to see.