NASCAR racing is a risky sport; there’s no two ways about it. While there have been advancements in driver safety mechanisms, crashes and wrecks aren’t something that can be nullified completely. In fact, the drivers head into the race with a staunch attitude, giving it their all on the track despite the dangers.

Now, Ryan Preece was involved in a terrifying crash at the iconic racetrack last year. His No. 41 Ford Mustang flipped multiple times in the air and eventually landed on its wheels. Despite the wretched nature of the crash, Preece got out of his car unscathed. Such a life-threatening event can lead to second thoughts and a loss of confidence as a racer. However, the SHR driver isn’t going to ponder upon his past experience and will approach this weekend’s race as usual.

The Daytona race will be business as usual for Ryan Preece

Not a lot has been talked about Preece this season apart from his future plans after SHR’s closure. But whenever there’s a Daytona race, people are reminded of the wild crash he suffered last year during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race. Prominent NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass spoke to Preece ahead of this weekend’s race. And the theme of the conversation was regarding his bone-chilling crash.

Preece did acknowledge that he feels blessed and happy to have survived what could’ve been a life-threatening crash. However, he won’t feel edgy or nervous about getting back in the race car this weekend. “You know, when I go to Superspeedway, a lot of us race car drivers are numb to those sorts of things…When I pull through the tunnel and go to Daytona, yeah, my feelings don’t change as far as strapping in.”

On the other hand, he is well aware of the harsh realities of NASCAR racing. And how a single crash could turn his family’s life upside down. “I’m very blessed and happy that I was able to survive and not put my wife or my child in a tough situation, because those are some thoughts that you think about now. Well, selfishly, before you wreck, you just get out of the car and move on, but there’s other things to think about now.” The SHR driver added.

NASCAR Cup Series races haven’t been immune to such crashes. Rather, they were forced to tweak the safety features of the Next-Gen car following Corey LaJoie’s multi-flip wreck in Michigan.

More changes to the Next-Gen race car

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Corey LaJoie found himself in a similar situation as Ryan Preece last weekend at the Michigan International Speedway. After hitting the back bumper of Noah Gragson’s car, the No. 7 Chevy spun across the racetrack and freakishly launched into the air. Despite the air deflectors being active, the mechanism couldn’t prevent the car from going airborne.

A 3,300-pound race car was tossed into the air like it was nothing. After a wild ride upside down, the race car came in contact with a grass patch on the track and flipped twice before landing on all four wheels. This forced NASCAR’s hand to prevent such freak accidents, especially, with the Daytona race next on the schedule.

To keep the race cars in contact with the racing surface, NASCAR has mandated teams to add a new ride-side rear window air deflector. This ruling came after the governing body ran some wind tunnel tests ahead of the Daytona race. The added component increases the liftoff speed of the car after spinning, making it less likely to get airborne.

How big of an impact these tweaks will have on the race car remains to be seen.