DAYTONA, Fla. (WGHP) –Part of the draw of the Daytona International Speedway is the fact that drivers are always a split second away from disaster.
Over the years, Daytona has produced some of the wildest wrecks in NASCAR history from Richard Petty’s crash in 1988, to Rusty Wallace’s famous 1993 wreck and Ryan Newman’s crashes in 2003 and 2020.
These wrecks are so spectacular, you never forget them.
Ryan Preece had one of those wrecks last summer at Daytona, but he’s back for more in 2024.
It takes certain personality traits to be a NASCAR driver, especially at a superspeedway like Daytona.
Preece views superspeedway racing like a game of chess and enjoys the challenge.
That thought process was put to the test in 2023 when he was involved in the worst accident of his career.
The car went airborne, barrel rolled multiple times and flipped end over end before landing back on its wheels.
“A lot of us have wrecked a lot in our life, and we’re going to continue to wreck … It’s inevitable. So if you’re afraid to wreck or have incidents like that, you should probably quit racing,” Preece said.
Not only did Preece not quit racing, he didn’t even miss a start. He was back behind the wheel of his 41 car the next week at Darlington with two black eyes.
“I come from a racing family,” Preece said. “This is what I wake up and choose to do every single weekend … You could get hurt tomorrow doing … something you don’t even like. So why not do something you love every single day?”
The wreck was the low point of an extremely disappointing season. He finished 23rd in the points and was out of the playoffs.
“Each and every one of us wants to be better,” Preece said.
As fate would have it, his first chance at doing better comes at Daytona, and he can think of no better way to tame that beast than with a trip to victory lane.