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Ryan Preece flips, Christopher Bell hits wall hard in scary Daytona wreck

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones02/17/25brianjones_93
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Mandatory Credit: Mark Humphrey/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Network

At the 2025 Daytona 500, Christopher Bell and Ryan Preece were involved in a major wreck. Bell was turned by Cole Custer, and Preece was flipped upside down with five laps remaining.

Bell and Preece were looking to win the Daytona 500 for the first time in their careers. For Preece, it’s the second time he’s flipped at Daytona International Speedway as it happened in August 2023 when his car went airborne and was launched into a series of nearly a dozen flips.

“Honestly, I look at this race or this track no different than I did a year ago,” Preece said during Daytona 500 Media Day last year, per NASCAR.com. “I think it … gave people more mixed feelings about this race track for my wife and my father than it did me. But as a racer, I’ll speak for myself: I’m numb to these things. 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.”

More on Christopher Bell and Ryan Preece

Following the 2023 wreck, NASCAR officials removed grass from the backstretch in favor of more asphalt. They determined that Preece’s car went airborne after contacting the infield grass, creating separation between the tires, underbody and surface.

“Right now, with our rules packages, with the limiters and the diffuser and everything that we have, that was the best alternative that we needed to do,” Preece said. “And certainly, I don’t want to see any other driver have to fly in the air like that. 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.”

Christopher Bell was looking to start the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season strong after finishing fifth in the final points standings last year. Before this year’s Daytona 500, Bell finished third in the 2023 and 2024 editions of the race.