Preece’s Wild Flip Punctuates Late Daytona 500 Big One

Ryan Preece (60) goes airborne during a late multi-car accident in Sunday's Daytona 500. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The carnage had already begun a few laps prior at Daytona Int’l Speedway, but the 67th annual Daytona 500 wasn’t immune to a second major accident in the closing laps.

After an eight-car crash at 15 to go scuttled the dominant runs of Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, among others, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE was being pushed by Cole Custer’s No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang Dark Horse with five laps left in the Great American Race.

Bell’s car had been dancing around for about a lap up to this point, and one ill-aligned push from Custer was all it took to trigger the second major pileup of the night.

After a head-on impact to the outside wall, Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing machine careened back across the track, impacting Ryan Preece’s No. 60 BuildSubmaries.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse and ricocheting Preece into Erik Jones’ No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry.

Preece’s car, having sustained two major impacts in rapid succession, picked up in the front end and did a wheelie down the backstretch. Just as it seemed the car was going to set back down, it began to lean to the left, allowing air to get under the car and blow it over.

The car slid up the turn-three banking and rolled back onto its wheels before backing into the wall and sliding down the track where it came to rest.

Preece’s car owner Brad Keselowski was also collected in the incident, as well as Daniel Suarez and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who still has yet to finish better than seventh in the sport’s most coveted race.

Two-time Daytona 500 runner-up Bubba Wallace’s efforts to one-up his best finish also fell short in that accident, as he suffered front-end damage while checking up to avoid the crash.

The incident resulted in a red flag lasting just over six minutes.

Once all the dust had settled, all drivers involved were evaluated and released from the infield care center or able to continue on in the race. William Byron was the eventual winner of the event.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads next to Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway for its second drafting track in as many races.

Coverage of the Ambetter Health 400 begins Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90, with in-car cameras streaming exclusively on MAX.