Ryan Preece delivered greatest moment of NASCAR career at track that nearly took his life

Three years ago, Ryan Preece tumbled down the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway in a harrowing crash that saw the Berlin, Conn., native's race car be thrown around like a cheap toy. 

Preece emerged from the accident alive and relatively unharmed, save for very bruised eyes à la Davey Allison in 1992. In the 2025 Daytona 500, Preece once again got airborne at Daytona, going for another wild race in his first race with RFK Racing. 

On Saturday, Preece got revenge on the racetrack that has tried multiple times to take his life and his career by winning the biggest race of his life. His career win No. 1 in the NASCAR Cup Series came in Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400, and it also propelled Preece into the NASCAR postseason for the first time. 

"Daytona almost took my life," Preece said on the NBC post-race show, "Or ended my racing career. We were about inches away from something possibly really bad happening. To be standing here in victory lane and saying I won at Daytona, a place that every kid that races, whether they're in quarter midgets or at their local short track or regional racing, they dream of winning here. 

"I'm just happy I had a rocketship to go to the moon tonight."

For once, Ryan Preece found victory lane rather than the sky at Daytona

In past years, rocketship has been a literal meaning for Preece's cars at Daytona as they took flight. On Saturday, the word simply meant that Preece had a bad fast Ford. 

And he did, as was evident by his furious charge back to the front of the field in Stage 2 after a spin on Lap 35 that incurred damage to the No. 60. After Shane van Gisbergen, whom Preece was battling for the final Chase spot, won Stage 1, Preece punched back by finishing second in Stage 2. 

Preece's win was enough to propel him into the Chase by 16 points over van Gisbergen after the latter finished 27th. The margin is notable because Preece was docked 25 points in May after spinning Ty Gibbs at Texas, a move NASCAR deemed intentional due to Preece's radio communication to his team regarding Gibbs. 

Things were stacked against Preece on Saturday and throughout the season, as they've been throughout his racing career. That's been the norm for the 35-year-old short track ace, who embodies the term, "a racer's racer."

"The people that it took to get me here, just honestly, all the risks, everything," Preece said, "I'm just so thankful."