Mere days have passed since Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Preece miraculously emerged unscathed from a terrifying crash during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona Speedway. With 5 laps left in the 160-lap race, Ryan’s No. 41 car spun out of control, after being bumped from behind by the No. 43 Camaro of Erik Jones and colliding with teammate Chase Briscoe’s car. The impact sent Preece’s car flying into the infield, flipping over multiple times before coming to a stop in the grass.

The incident left onlookers stunned. Remarkably, Preece has been discharged from the hospital a mere few days after the incident. The NASCAR Race Hub released radio transmissions, capturing the panic among fellow drivers in response to the crash. The incident serves as a reminder of the risks drivers face.

The NASCAR grid reacts to Ryan Preece’s crash

Wanting to make the best use of the one last opportunity that they had at making it to the playoffs, the contenders were pushing their throttles to the far reds. As they approached the final laps, the one small bump from Erik Jones set off a series of actions that ended in Ryan’s Mustang getting wrecked beyond recognition. NASCAR’s ‘Radioactive’ series put together a compilation of other drivers reacting to the accident and, as can be expected, they were shocked to their cores.

With the Stewart-Haas Racing crew acknowledging the wreck, Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin observed it and spoke into his own radio. “What a F****** wreck! Wow”, he can be heard saying. From a different cockpit, Kaulig Racing’s A.J Allmedinger immediately enquiries his spotter if Ryan was alright, and gets a shocked, “Man, I don’t know.”, as response.

As the car lay on the ground spewing fire, Ryan’s No. 41 crew could not manage to get a response out of him initially. Following a few seconds of panic, his crew declares that he is okay and out of the car, sending waves of relief across the grid.

As Chase Briscoe expresses a sigh of relief, an unaware Denny Hamlin asks his crew chief Chris Gabehart if Ryan was out of the car and the chief answers, “Yeah, he’s too f****** tough to do anything, but, god! I don’t know how. That is by far the most violent I’ve seen a car flip in a long time.”

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Ryan Preece’s message to NASCAR and subsequent release from the hospital

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Following the accident, Stewart-Haas Racing had informed the media that the driver would be kept at the Halifax Health Medical Center for observation. Shortly, Ryan wrote on “X”, ‘If you want to be a race car driver, you better be tough. Dammit. … I’m coming back.’

The message sent a second wave of relief through the grid, ensuring that the driver was good and well. Despite the miracle, NASCAR stakeholders and analysts have been expressing their concerns over the accident. Notably, the expert eyes of veteran Kyle Petty picked up something that others might have missed.

Speaking on how Ryan’s car seemed to accelerate while in the air, he said, “This accident… As he came out of the pack, it seemed to accelerate. It was picking up speed, you know, it needed to be, it needed warm water to slow itself down, and it just didn’t slow itself down.”

The accident was something that proved to be a wakeup call that reminded the harsh reality of stock car racing to all the members of the community. In the latest developments, SHR had confirmed that the driver was released from the hospital following evaluations and that he will be returning to his home in North Carolina. What actions the racing promotion and teams will be taking in the future to prevent suffering a similar fate as Ryan Preece remains to be seen for now.

Read More: “Our Sport Is Inherently Dangerous”: NASCAR’s Senior VP Breaks Silence on Ryan Preece’s Near-Fatal Daytona Crash