Anybody expecting chaos at the All-Star Race in Dover would have still been surprised to see it break out so early in Lap 2, that too into a literal fire.

Ryan Preece, who has been having a tough run ever since his penalty and fine since Texas, saw his race end way too early when he tried to move from the outside to the middle of the track on Lap 2, getting nudged first by Tod Gilliland and then Kyle Larson. 

Preece’s #60 RFK Racing Ford spun up the track with the car slamming hard into the wall. The left rear made a massive contact with the wall, right around the fuel tank. With the car having a full tank at the start of the race, fire broke out as Preece’s Ford spun back down the track to the inner barriers. 

Kyle Larson, whose #5 HMS Chevrolet was also damaged after the contact with Preece, saw the incident unfold and saw the impact of Preece’s car on the wall. The reigning NASCAR Cup series champ checked in with his team over the radio and asked, “Let me know if Preece is ok. He hit an absolute ton.”

Thankfully, Preece was able to get out of the car quickly enough before the flames increased. He got out, and track officials rushed with fire extinguishers as the caution turned into a Red Flag almost immediately. 

Speaking to Jamie Little from Fox, Preece, who had a quick check in the medical centre, said, “ I’m fine. I seem to take big hits. I don’t know what happened. If it was anything, it was probably close on my part to go into turn one, and it got sideways.”

Preece was shown a replay by Fox, but still wasn’t able to see clearly what happened. After seeing the replay, he said, “If it was my fault, I’m sorry. Tough way to not finish a race on lap one. Just move on to Charlotte.

Lap 2 damage sends five to garage with more involved

While Ryan Preece’s car was on fire, which drew everyone's attention to the incident, several other cars ended up with collateral damage. Five cars went into the pits for repairs, including Ryan Preece’s, which will end up having the hardest time making a comeback to the Dover track.

A total of 10 cars were involved in the incident, with Preece, Larson, Todd Gilliland, and Ryan Blaney all seeing their cars in the garage for repairs. Haas’ Cole Custer ended up with the most damage, being the first car to be declared as a DNF. 

Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell, John Hunter Nemechek, and Daniel Suarez were also involved in the incident. Even Preece’s teammate, Chris Buescher had some damage. 

Team-owner Brad Keselowski, who started 2nd, was running 4th at the time of writing and is RFK’s only hope of being a competitive unit in the race.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason