DARLINGTON, S.C. — Less than a week since his frightening crash at Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale, Ryan Preece has been cleared to race in the Southern 500 on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.
“I’ll see you at Darlington,” Preece said in a video his Stewart-Haas Racing team posted to social media on Friday. “I’m sitting right here, I’m completely fine. I feel good and, obviously, I’m ready to get to Darlington.”
Preece’s No. 41 Ford went airborne last Saturday night and rolled over more than 10 times before coming to rest. He then got out of the damaged car and walked off without any apparent injuries. The 32-year-old driver spent the night in a hospital and was checked again during the week to make sure there was no lingering damage.
The Southern 500, considered one of NASCAR’s hallowed crown jewel races, is the opener of the 10-race playoffs. Preece is not among the 16 drivers chasing this year’s Cup Series championship.
The car Preece drove at Darlington was taken to NASCAR’s R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further evaluation. NASCAR believes the Next Gen center section design approach helped limit intrusion, according to early findings from the organization’s look into the wreck that The Associated Press got in an email from spokesman Mike Forde on Friday.