Ryan Preece has been cleared to race in Sunday’s running of the Cook Out Southern 500 following his harrowing multi-flip blow-over crash in the final laps of last Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Preece met with the NASCAR media corps on Saturday morning at Darlington Raceway ahead of practice and qualifying for Sunday’s Southern 500, exposing his massively bruised eyes and burst blood vessels.

Ryan Preece is a badass. pic.twitter.com/scjrecTKrZ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 2, 2023

“They don’t hurt,” explained Preece during the media gathering. “They look bad to you guys, but you look at a 410 (Sprint Car) driver after some flips, they get this. It’s from spinning in the air. All that. The blood flow. Whatever. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, and a lot of other people out there aren’t either. What I can tell you, I went through all the tests. I feel fine. If I didn’t feel fine, I wouldn’t be in this car this weekend. But obviously, I’m grateful and excited to be here.”

Ryan Preece on his bruised eyes, "They don’t hurt. They look bad to you guys, but you look at a 410 driver after some flips, they get this. It’s from spinning in the air. All that. The blood flow. Whatever. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, and a lot of other people out there…

— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) September 2, 2023

Preece got turned around after a hard push by Erik Jones. Once he started to slide, he was hit in the left side by his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe. That contact sent Preece into the grass where his car eventually got airborne. Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang flipped a total of 10 times in the air with three hard ground impacts before his car finally came a rest on the Daytona Superstretch.

The Berlin, Connecticut driver was taken to the nearby Halifax Medical Center where he was kept overnight for further observation, and was eventually discharged on Sunday morning. 

Preece has made seven starts at Darlington Raceway entering this weekend, with a best finish of 12th in the 2021 Southern 500.