Ryan Newman Gives Update on TODAY Show

Credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs

Ryan Newman still wants to race and be a great dad. 

Newman was on the TODAY show on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 to discuss the crash in last month’s Daytona 500 that's sidelined him for almost four weeks. Ross Chastain has filled in for the Roush Fenway Racing driver and is scheduled to fill the seat again for the upcoming race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

Newman provided a little more detail about the head injury he sustained at Daytona International Speedway.

“It takes time for it to heal," he said. "I was knocked out. There was a point where I don’t remember a part of the race. Realistically, I feel so lucky. On so many levels, I feel so lucky. You look at the crash and you think, 'That is spectacular in a bad way.' You look at the car afterwards, you think about all the things that happened right for me to be sitting here.”

Newman commended NASCAR, their safety equipment and the track emergency response team for contributing to allowing him to walk out of the hospital less than 48 hours after the crash. 

“It’s not just me, but there’s a whole group at NASCAR that has done a great job, from the tracks to the safety personnel, the drivers inside the cars, the cockpits, the containment seats that we have,” he said. “There are so many levels of things that happened in the last 20 years that I’ve been a part of the sport that helped me be able to sit here today.”

Credit: Nate Taylor

When asked about what went right that helped him survive, the 42-year-old mentioned multiple factors, including the expertise of the team who builds his cars. 

“Just where I was kind of hit, so to speak -- the [roll] cage was compromised. All those welds held together, so the guys at the shop did an amazing job," Newman said. "I got hit from behind by a car going 190 miles an hour, and it pushed me back, but then (Corey LaJoie’s) car pushed me forward, his car actually hit my seat. Just lots of things that happened that aligned. The angels aligned and held a really good grip with their hands.”

The TODAY Show hosts asked why the Purdue graduate would want to return to racing. Newman gave a simple, yet elegant answer: “I love it,” Newman said.

“Because I’m just 42 right? Really, I love it. It’s been a little bit painful to be out of the racecar, to not being doing what I’ve done for so many years. I started racing when I was 4 years old, 4 1/2 years old. It’s just kind of who I am.”

And what about his two daughters, Brooklyn Sage and Ashlyn Olivia? What did Newman tell them? 

“Just 'Daddy’s all right.' They seem to be completely fine with the fact that I’m still Daddy. I think it would be totally different if something else would have happened, but I’m 100% who I was, which they were good with.”
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