NASCAR driver Ryan Preece is out of the hospital less than a day after his car barrel-rolled through the air nearly a dozen times during a crash at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
Preece headed home to North Carolina on Sunday after he was discharged from the Halifax Health Medical Center in the morning, his Stewart-Haas Racing team said in a tweet.
In an update earlier in the day, the team wrote: "He is awake, alert, and mobile. He has been communicating with family and friends. He will be evaluated by medical personnel later this morning."
The 32-year-old driver was transported to the hospital on Saturday night after his No. 41 Mustang flipped at least 10 times during the final laps of the NASCAR Cup Series race.
A look at what happened to the No. 41 car on the backstretch.@RyanPreece_ has exited the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/NkmPJEtOKm
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 27, 2023
Preece's car was hit from behind by Erik Jones' car, sending Preece speeding left into an aerial spin after the grass infield. His car landed upright and appeared to catch fire. Preece was able to climb out of the car before being taken to the race track's care center.
"This is just violent," NASCAR on NBC analyst Jeff Burton said during the broadcast. "That is just amazing that something that weighs over 3,500 pounds can get in the air like that."
You don't see those kind of high-flying crashes these days, Burton noted. NASCAR has changed how cars are built, with a focus on safety.
"Fifteen to 20 years ago, these were the kind of wrecks we expected to see," he said during the race, but that "NASCAR has changed a lot about these cars to try to keep them on the ground. And for the most part, unless these cars find themselves in these kind of odd situations — it works."
Shortly after he was admitted to the hospital, Preece tweeted, "I'm coming back."
"If you want to be a race car driver, you better be tough. Dammit," he wrote.
