Ryan Preece’s car goes airborne, violently flips in scary Daytona wreck

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Preece climbed out of his mangled car and was taken to the hospital for evaluation after nearly a dozen flips in a scary wreck Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Preece was running about 15th when his car turned sideways with Erik Jones on his bumper. As Preece’s car went from a transition of grass to pavement on the backstretch, the car got airborne and flipped wildly.

While he got out of the car under his own power, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver walked to a gurney to lay down for the ride to the infield medical center. He was later taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Preece tweeted late Saturday night:

“If you want to be a race car driver, you better be tough. …. I’m coming back,” Preece said in the tweet.

The winner of the modified championship in 2013, the 32-year-old Preece has three career top-5’s in 141 starts. He entered the regular-season finale Saturday at 24th in the standings and needing to win to make the playoffs.

“I want to say I’m hoping the best for Preece,” said race winner Chris Buescher. “He’s a good friend of mine. I’ve gotten some updates as we’ve been in victory lane.

“It sounds like he is hanging tough, which makes sense — he’s a little hard-headed. I’m certainly hoping for the best.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.