Ever since the final lap of Monday’s Daytona 500, everyone had been on pins and needles thinking about the condition of Ryan Newman. Newman was in the lead and crashed with a few hundred feet to the finish. While we were hoping for the best and fearing the worst since Monday, it has been nothing but good news about Newman’s condition.
Nearly 36 hours after the crash, Roush Fenway Racing posted a new statement and a picture of Newman with his two daughters, saying that Newman is “walking around Halifax Medical Center” and is “fully alert.”
Ryan Newman Continues Great Improvement pic.twitter.com/xIZRiaRApi
— RFK Racing (@RFKracing) February 19, 2020
The string of positive news came later that night when NASCAR revealed that Newman was in “stable condition” but his injuries were “not life-threatening.” That continued Tuesday morning and into Wednesday as Roush Fenway revealed that Newman was “awake and speaking with family and doctors.”
NASCAR’s safety team took all precautions Monday night to help extract Newman from his destroyed race car. They needed to carefully turn the car over, which was on its roof, and take the top of the car off to get Newman out and place him on the stretcher.
The lack of constant updates over the past couple days may have been tough on well-meaning fans over the past couple days who just wanted to know if Newman’s alright but it certainly kept rumors and inaccurate reports to a minimum.
Roush Fenway is expected to name a replacement driver for Newman’s #6 on Wednesday. According to many in the garage, including Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, it’ll be Ross Chastain in the car at Las Vegas but the team has not confirmed that report.
[Photo: AP]
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
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