The last time Ryan Preece was at Daytona International Speedway, he was getting out of his car that had just flipped violently down the backstretch, put into an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated. That accident occurred in late August during the 2023 regular-season finale and saw Preece’s No. 41 Ford get airborne and flip wildly at least 10 times.

Preece was held overnight for observation at Halifax Health Medical Center and released the next morning. And he drove in the next Cup Series race the following weekend at Darlington Raceway.

As he returned to Daytona this week for the first time, he explained he gave his accident little thought and instead was focusing his attention on the Daytona 500. He will start 25th on Sunday.

“I look at this race or this track no different than I did a year ago,” Preece said. “And as I said, I think it did more, I don’t want to say harm, but gave people more mixed feelings about this racetrack for my wife and my father than it did me.

“But as a racer, I feel like I’m numb to these things and getting in the race car and having that happen. Crappy deal. I was pissed off more that we had such a fast race car and wasn’t able to finish the race.”

In the area along the backstretch where Preece crashed, NASCAR has already paved over a section of the track that previously had been grass. The remainder of the grass area will be paved over once the Daytona 500 is completed.

“Certainly, I don’t want to see any driver have to fly in the air like that,” Preece said. “Because at the end of the day, I was certainly lucky. I understand that. You’re inches away from possibly not walking out of here or seeing your family again. So for me, I’m happy they did it. And it was a step in what needed to be done to keep these cars on the ground.”