NASCAR Seeks Brad Keselowski & Co.’s Help as Director Clears Air on Ryan Preece’s Scary Daytona Flip

“I don’t want to be the example,” Ryan Preece said after the 2025 Daytona 500. In three years, the Cup Series star has endured two terrifying wrecks at the same racetrack. In August 2023, Preece lost control of his Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41. It was pushed by another car into the infield grass and then barrel-rolled ten times. Two years later, Preece’s story has not changed under RFK Racing.

Last weekend, in a multi-car melee with eight laps to go, Erik Jones’ car hit Ryan Preece. The latter’s No. 60 then went airborne – the kind of wreck that has proliferated in recent events. This recurring situation has concerned fans and drivers of NASCAR – prompting a clean slate from a top executive.

Closely examining Ryan Preece’s second mishap

In the recent past, NASCAR’s Next-Gen car has accrued criticism for taking flight under the wrong circumstances. During the Michigan race in 2024, Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevrolet flipped several times on the grass. Then, during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race, Josh Berry’s car also soared into the air and violently slammed the outside wall before finally landing. Now, Ryan Preece experienced the same incident and admittedly felt it was way worse than his 2023 ordeal, which left him with two black eyes. This time, Preece did not have to visit the hospital, but nonetheless, his mishap brought safety concerns to the forefront again. NASCAR sought Brad Keselowski’s help on this occasion.

In response to the latest misadventure, NASCAR race director Jusan Hamilton came clean on the procedure followed subsequently. Hamilton said in a recent ‘Hauler Talk’ episode: “We did not bring it back to the R&D center… Our safety team was on the ground – Dr. John Patalak, Matt Harper, David Green… They did a preliminary investigation on the 60 car, looked over it.” Hamilton then revealed that his team joined hands with Brad Keselowski, the new team owner of Ryan Preece at RFK Racing. “Tuesday morning, our safety team went over to RFK Racing… had a meeting at 8:30 am. They looked at the car, met with the team… they are still going through that data.” 

RFK Racing’s perspective will be crucial in this scenario as they can provide valuable feedback as to what caused Preece to flip in the air so violently. Preece’s interview after he was out of the race also shed light on the seriousness of the situation, as he said, “Honestly, with a hit like that, a head-on impact, I don’t really think it should’ve gone airborne, right? So, I’m lucky to walk away… Something needs to be done.” 

Even Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon spoke on the incident, saying, “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.” Hamilton is aware of these sentiments and went on to acknowledge the progress their investigations have made, along with the issue of going airborne.

Jusan Hamilton then reflected on the results of their preliminary investigation. “The preliminary feel is that the car held up pretty well and the structure is in a good spot… I wouldn’t say that this was exactly a blowover.” Hamilton further clarified the methods involved in appeasing Ryan Preece and others. “One note on the Next-Gen car – the original design has stayed true throughout the iterations as it got more safe. According to driver feedback, this car, especially the center section, was built for catastrophic wrecks… When we have cars getting on their roofs, we have two items – one is safety, the safety engineering team is led by Dr. John Patalak and then the aero side of it, led by Dr. Jacuzi… Safety – we feel good about – but the aero side, they have been working on increasing the lift-off speed.”

Although the investigation is ongoing to cut down risky accidents like Ryan Preece’s, time is of the essence. Besides, the sheer number of wrecks that the Daytona 500 saw was also jaw-dropping.

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Losing the charm of a crown jewel event?

The Daytona 500 has been a hallowed event for NASCAR since 1959. The Great American Race has witnessed several champion winners, like Richard Petty with 7 wins, and Dale Earnhardt with just one crown jewel win but a record 34 total wins at Daytona International Speedway. However, after NASCAR introduced restrictor-plate racing, things have changed.

Cars tend to race in packs and that leads to more wrecks. The chaos has multiplied especially after the introduction of the Next-Gen car, something that has gotten on drivers’ nerves. Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, was especially frustrated with last weekend’s race. It saw 35 cars involved in wrecks – the highest number since the 2019 race. 13 cars were wrecked during qualifying – bumping the number up to 48 wrecked cars in total.

William Byron was running 7th on the final lap. He could win only after race leader Denny Hamlin was spun out by Cole Custer and kicked off a massive wreck. Instead of the best driver, it appears that the luckiest driver is winning. A fed-up Hamlin reflected on this last week on his podcast Actions Detrimental: “It’s such a (expletive) c—shoot now. I hate that what is supposed to be our most prestigious race, a showcase of heroes, is luck. It is luck. I don’t care how else you want to say it. It is luck. It’s luck because … you just have to avoid the wrecks. … I’ve grown really, really agitated with how we’ve gotten here.”

Clearly, Ryan Preece is not the only one agitated by NASCAR’s rising wreck fest. Unless the executives get on a war footing the solve the issue, the criticism is going to rise further. Do you think the Next-Gen car is safe enough? Let us know in the comments below.