No matter what NASCAR does, something always goes wrong during the Daytona 500. That was no different Sunday evening. With only a handful of laps to go, another big accident took out a lot of cars, but one driver in particular went for another ugly ride. Ryan Preece, who famously had a terrifying flip-over crash in 2023 at Daytona, caught air once again.
Nothing seems to change, especially for Ryan. It certainly wasn’t a pleasant sight to see a car once again flip through the air like it’s a diecast car or something.
Ryan Preece Flips Again, Why NASCAR Can’t Seem to Get It Right
Racing in NASCAR has always had danger. But the way these Gen-7 cars flip is simply scary. They flip so easily, even after NASCAR has done a lot to try and prevent it. It’s so messed up how easily it happens. Preece’s flip in Sunday’s Daytona 500 was no different. It was crazy, the car was up on its rear wheels for at least several yards before it finally flipped.
It happened so fast, it was hard to comprehend that it happened.
This view of Ryan Preece's car flipping. Goodness. pic.twitter.com/o1dFgsUBuz
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2025
Sure Preece didn’t have any major flips during the 2024 season, but if you go back to 2023, the summer Daytona race, he was involved in a vicious crash that won’t soon be forgotten. The bad flips in 2024 belong to Corey Lajoie who flipped twice last season. His flips were as wild and quick as a blow over as Preece’s have been.
READ MORE: Ryan Preece and Kroger will join RFK Racing in 2025
NASCAR Might Need to Listen For Once
Preece made some comments that stood out after he was released from the care center. He most certainly called out the next-gen car in doing so.
” I don’t know if it’s the diffuser or what that makes this car like a sheet of plywood when you walk outside on a windy day,” Preece said via the FOX broadcast. ” When the car took off and it got real quiet, all I thought about was my daughter. I was lucky to walk away, but we’re getting real close to somebody not being able to. It’s frustrating when you end your day like this.”
It’s clear that when air gets under these cars, they flip way too easily. Preece isn’t wrong. To me, NASCAR needs to heed what he said. I know a NASCAR driver hasn’t died in a crash since Dale Sr in 2001, but the sport is flirting with a very fine line. They don’t have a great track record of making changes quickly enough when it comes to the safety of a driver.
Is the name Ryan Cursed in NASCAR?
Not to be superstitious, but it certainly feels like drivers with the first name Ryan, have some bad energy around them when racing at tracks like Daytona.
I’m not saying Ryan Blaney in that conversation, but then again he seems to always get taken out of the Daytona 500 by his teammates in bad crashes.
You can go back to Ryan Newman, who was involved in plenty of terrible crashes at both Daytona and Talladega. You’re talking about a guy who even won the Daytona 500 in 2008.
Newman, Blaney, and Preece are all named Ryan, and they have been in some of the worst and scariest crashes in recent memory, specifically at Daytona. It might just be a coincidence, but drivers named Ryan have some bad luck at Daytona.
I’m just happy Ryan Preece was able to once again walk away from such an ugly flip. But enough is enough NASCAR, get this thing fixed. We don’t need anyone getting hurt. Especially with how chaotic the racing is now.
Featured Image Credit: IMAGO/Icon Sportswire. 2/16/2025
READ NEXT: William Byron Nabs Second Straight Daytona 500, Highlighted by Rain and Carnage
