“I’m a cat with 9 lives right now”: Ryan Preece opens up on his Daytona airborne crash ahead of Atlanta Superspeedway race

One week removed from a terrifying airborne crash in the Daytona 500, RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece made comments regarding driver safety. The driver of the #60 Ford is hopeful NASCAR will continue improving safety on the heels of his frightening accident.

Preece's comments were made during a recent media scrum ahead of the Cup Series race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where drivers will be racing similar to how they do at Daytona as the 1.5-mile Georgia track is a drafting track. While he says he won't approach racing at superspeedways differently, Preece is hopeful NASCAR will keep working to keep drivers safe.

The former Whelen Modified champion's comments were brought to light by racing analyst Danielle Trotta on X, who wrote:

"Ryan Preece here in Atl this morning discussing wreck at Daytona says he wants to see #NASCAR continue to develop safety. “I’m a cat with 9 lives right now and I don’t wanna use all of them” Says the wreck won’t change how he drives at speedways."

Preece was near the front of the pack in last Sunday's Daytona 500 with under 10 laps to go when his #60 machine launched into the air down the backstretch and barrel rolled into turn three. However, last Sunday wasn't the first time Preece has flipped upside down in a Cup Series race at Daytona. In 2023, he violently flipped his #41 Stewart-Haas Racing machine down the backstretch in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

This season marks Preece's first campaign with RFK Racing, a team co-owned by longtime owner Jack Roush and 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski. Preece spent the past two seasons behind the wheel of the #41 SHR Ford, but struggled to mount quality results as he failed to win or make a playoff appearance. He moved to RFK Racing ahead of this season after SHR ceased operations at the end of 2024.

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Ryan Preece hilariously changed social media profile after violent Daytona crash

While he's hopeful NASCAR will work to prevent crashes like his from happening in the future, Ryan Preece managed to have some fun in the wake of his horrific crash at Daytona. The driver of the #60 humorously changed his profile picture on X after his airborne crash.

Preece took to X to share his new profile picture, which is a photoshopped image of himself as an astronaut, humorously playing off of how his #60 car launched into the air in last Sunday's race. His caption read:

"#NewProfilePic"

While he's still searching for his first career Cup Series win, Ryan Preece has two career victories in the Xfinity Series, last coming in 2018. He also has two victories in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, with the last coming in 2022.