Ryan Preece feels 'completely fine' after Daytona crash - ESPN

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ryan Preece had a message to deliver, no matter how bad his eyes looked after his frightening crash at Daytona last week.

«It's OK to not race,» the Stewart-Haas Racing driver said at Darlington on Saturday. «But it's OK to race, and I think that's what needs to be said.»

Preece took questions publicly for the first time since his horrifying accident last Saturday, where he went airborne and flipped over at least 10 times before coming to rest.

Preece got out of the car on his own power. He spent the night at the hospital and before midnight was suggesting to anyone who would listen that he felt good and was ready to go home.

Cleared to drive in the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sunday night, Preece is not sore from the crash. His eyes are just bloodshot and bruised.

«If I had headaches or blurry vision or anything like that that I felt I was endangering myself or anybody else here, I wouldn't be racing,» Preece said behind his No. 41 hauler. «I have a family that I have to worry about as well. This is my job, this is what I want to do, and I feel completely fine.»

That's remarkable given what Preece, 32, endured a week ago.

He was in a line near Daytona's outside wall when he was bumped by Erik Jones and turned down into teammate Chase Briscoe. Preece soon lifted off the ground and began to flip over the grassy area on the backstretch.

Preece thought he might have checked up a bit before his wild ride.

«I've seen other interviews from drivers in the past that as you get sideways and as you go in the air, it's gets real quiet,» he said. «After experiencing that, that's 100 percent true. Beyond that, everything's happening so fast, you're just flipping through the air. Until that ride stops, all you're