(Video) “It got real quiet all I thought about was my daughter!” Ryan Preece goes airborne in a violent wreck at Daytona 500

NASCAR veteran Ryan Preece was involved in the second airborne incident of his career at the Daytona 500.

(Video) “It got real quiet all I thought about was my daughter!” Ryan Preece goes airborne in a violent wreck at Daytona 500

Ryan Preece goes airborne at Daytona (Images via @NASCAR and @RyanPreece_/X)

The 2025 NASCAR Cup season has started with the usual chaos at Daytona International Speedway, as William Byron won his second consecutive Daytona 500, taking advantage of the late race wreck. One of the biggest incidents of the day featured RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell.

With just four laps left on the race, Christopher Bell who was leading the race alongside teammate Denny Hamlin, got a bad push from the back, lost control of his car and slammed hard into the wall. He then went onto collect multiple cars, including Ryan Preece, who made his RFK debut. The No:60 car went airborne after contact with Bell and Erik Jones.

It isn’t the first time the same happened to Preece, as he went airborne in the 2023 regular season finale at Daytona while racing for Stewart Haas Racing. The veteran was clearly scared after the incident as he understands he was lucky to walkaway unharmed. He seem really frustrated with how the race played out for his team.

I don’t know if it’s the diffuser or what that makes these cars like a sheet of plywood when you walk outside on a windy day. When the car took off like that and 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. … It’s frustrating when you end your day like this.

Ryan Preece told Regan Smith.

Ryan Preece demands NASCAR to make changes

Further talking about the point, Preece admitted that it felt really bad to come face to face with a potential devastating end to his career for the second time at Daytona and highlighted that it’s the Superspeedways that is to blame for it. He turned NASCAR to make the necessary changes to make sure a tragedy doesn’t happen on the track.

Ryan Preece flips in air at Daytona
Ryan Preece flips in air at Daytona in 2023 (Credits: Kris 6 News)

But I think the thing I want to say as a father as a racer is, we keep beating on a door hoping for a different result, and I think we know where there’s a problem. It’s superspeedways. So, I don’t want to be the example of, when it finally does get somebody, I don’t want it to be me. I’ve got a two-year-old daughter … Something needs to be done. Because cars lifting off the ground like that, it felt, honestly, worse than Daytona in [2023].

Ryan Preece added.

The comments from Preece shows he fear for his life in the crash and his claim that the lift of felt worse than the incident from 2023, proves NASCAR didn’t do enough tweaks on the car to make a difference. It would be interesting to see if a sanctioning body is going to take a stand and make the necessary changes following the incident.