DAYTONA BEACH, FL — “I’m back,” Ryan Preece stated on social media after a brutal crash during a NASCAR Cup Series race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
The Stewart-Haas Racing Team released a statement at 2:20 a.m. ET Sunday that Preece will be staying overnight at the Halifax Health Medical Center to continue monitoring. He was awake, alert and mobile. The team stated that he was communicating with family and friends. Bryce is due to undergo another evaluation later Sunday morning. The update is expected to be provided on Sunday afternoon.
In Bryce’s message on X, the social networking site formerly known as Twitter, he wrote: “If you want to be a race car driver, you better be tough. Damn. … I’m coming back.”
Bryce’s car rolled over 10 times after being hit from behind by Eric Jones’ car on lap 156 of the 163-lap race. Brees’ car swerved left and hit teammate Chase Briscoe’s car. This contact tipped Preece’s car sideways as it slid through the turn three grass. When Bryce’s car went over a patch, air entered under the car and lifted it up, starting a fierce roll.
“It’s just violent,” NBC NASCAR analyst Jeff Burton said of Brees’ crash during the NBC broadcast. “Look at this car. It’s amazing that something that weighs over 3,500 pounds can fly through the air this way.
Chris Bosher won the regular season finale. Bryce finished thirty-first.
“Ryan is a good friend of mine,” Bucher said. “While we were at Victory Lane we got word that he’s in hospital, they’re going through a lot and he’s doing well. It’s good to hear.”
Bucher said he has not yet seen a replay of the Bryce crash but understands how jarring such inversions can be. His car flipped in a Coca-Cola 600 last year.
“It just overtakes you,” Bucher said of what the rollover accident could have looked like. “…we appreciate how safe our race cars are. I think we, as an industry, sometimes forget that they’re still dangerous. That can definitely lead to some of our wildest moments. It’s a dangerous sport. We know that getting into it. Sometime we are.” Pushing it a little too far in the back of our minds. … I know (Bryce’s) crash was dissonant only from the small part[of the video he saw of the crash].”
NASCAR has stated that it will return the Preece to its R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further inspection.