Ryan Preece mentioned that he feels good two days after he collided with Kyle Larson's car at Talladega Superspeedway, but plans to make some adjustments to his safety equipment. Preece's car crashed into the right side of Larson's car when the latter went airborne on the track in overtime. Preece said it was the hardest impact he has ever experienced in his career. A camera inside Preece's car showed how his body moved and his visor opened upon impact.
Preece and Larson were discharged from Talladega's medical center shortly after the accident. Preece said he was sore on Monday but still worked out. NASCAR is inspecting both cars involved in the accident at its Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina. Preece said he is scheduled to meet with series officials on Wednesday to discuss the incident.
Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick talked to Preece on Monday about the accident and Preece's safety team. "One of the things (Harvick) said was, 'You moved a lot,'" Preece said. "I said, 'Yeah, I guess I have a lot of mass to hold with the seat belts.' 'Kevin made a great point. He had the opinion that everything did its job. I feel great, so why change anything?'
"But he raised the point that you can always improve. You can look at this like, 'How do you feel about this? What can you do differently with your seat belts or your HANS device?' Kevin is really good at helping you ask yourself questions and keep pushing, whether it's in safety, performance or whatever.
"There are some things I'm going to review and say, 'Hey, can we look at changing this or that?' I'm still very happy with the entire SHR team that builds my seat and how we put the seat belts and safety devices we use. I'm proud of the work they do because at the end of the day, I was able to do everything I wanted to do (on Monday)."
One adjustment that Preece plans to make is to his helmet visor. He said he doesn't snap it shut out of habit but will look to change that in the future to prevent it from opening in an accident.
He's not the only one making changes after a crash last weekend. Riley Herbst, who competes in the Xfinity series for Stewart-Haas Racing, had a similar crash to Preece's at Talladega last weekend. Herbst collided with Daniel Hemric's car in the Xfinity race. Herbst wasn't hurt in the accident and raced in the Cup race the next day. He said he talked to Preece about the accident, and both complained of neck stiffness.
Herbst also made some adjustments to his seat belts after his crash. Nonetheless, he said he feels good and is ready to race in Dover this weekend.
Originally posted at Liga Legal®
