Preece takes another hard hit in NASCAR All-Star Race

Ryan Preece provided the first drama of the All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway when the rear of his Ford burned down after a crash in Turn 1.

Preece was collected in a chain reaction incident between Kyle Larson and Todd Gilliland, who got together. The crash occurred on lap 2 and also collected Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, John Hunter Nemechek, and Cole Custer.

“I’m fine. I seem to take big hits,” Preece said. “I don’t know what happened. Obviously, I gotta see a replay, but if it was anything, it was probably close on my part going into Turn 1 and just got sideways.

“If it was my fault, I’m sorry. A tough way to not finish a race on lap 1. Yeah, we’ll move on to Charlotte.”

Preece started the year by winning the first non-points event in the Clash. He would have needed to advance out of the first two segments on Sunday to race for the All-Star prize.

Custer and Gilliland are now done for the day along with Preece. NASCAR does not allow backup cars. However, if a car can be repaired by a team, as on a normal race weekend, it can return to the event. All three segments are being treated as separate races, so there is no penalty for going to the garage.

Larson, Elliott and Blaney are locked into the final segment. While Elliott's team made necessary repairs on pit road, the other two's teams are working on the cars in the garage, as is Gilliland’s team, the latter of which hopes to return for the second segment with a clean slate.