February 17, 2025

Daytona 500 Crash Sends Ryan Preece's Car Airborne: William Byron won the Daytona 500 after a last-lap crash took him from ninth to first. Shortly before that a crash sent Ryan Preece airborne at Nascar's biggest race. His car looked like it popped a wheelie then flipped over multiple times. Preece was OK but he said later that when it happened "all I thought about was my daughter."

posted by rcade to auto racing at 11:45 AM - 3 comments

So scary! I'm glad he's ok. Knowing that he's ok, that was fun to watch. I'm sorry!! He's fine!

posted by NoMich at 12:38 PM on February 17, 2025

I watched it live on TV. There was a pause after the crash in which Preece didn't lower the net on his driver's side window. It was likely less than a minute but felt way longer.

It's an engineering marvel that these drivers walk away from crashes like that. I wonder how much it contributes to the level of risk drivers are willing to take.

posted by rcade at 01:49 PM on February 17, 2025

Since I didn't know that Preece had a daughter, when I saw how the car behaved in the air and the degree to which it maintained its inner structural integrity through the crash sequence, all I thought about was carbon fiber.

If today's composite technology had been in use 24 years ago, Dale Sr. might be alive today, enjoying a deified NASCAR elder's existence.

posted by beaverboard at 12:42 PM on February 18, 2025

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