DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Following Monday’s Daytona 500 finish, the NASCAR world prayed for Ryan Newman, who was in a violent crash at the end of the last lap of the race.
Newman was leading the race at the end, but Ryan Blaney made contact with Newman’s No. 6 Ford from behind and the car turned, flipped upside down and slid from the track at Daytona International Speedway onto pit road while flames and sparks flew out of it.
Although his injuries are “not life threatening,” Newman is being treated at the local Halifax Health Medical Center and is in “serious condition,” according to a statement from Roush Fenway Racing.
Denny Hamlin won his second consecutive Daytona 500 and crossed the finish line to beat out Blaney just as Newman was wrecking. He and his Joe Gibbs Racing team stopped celebrating once they learned the severity of the crash, and Gibbs repeatedly apologized the celebrations.
“I hope he’s all right,” said Blaney, who was clearly distraught over the wreck. “That looked really bad and not something you want to do. Definitely unintentional. … It sucks to lose a race, but you never want to see anyone get hurt.”
Blaney, who finished second, said if he couldn’t win the race, he wanted to help a Ford driver, Newman, win over Hamlin in a Toyota. He said he was trying to push Newman to victory, but they “just got bumpers hooked up wrong and turned him.”
“We’re praying for Ryan,” Hamlin said after the race.
So is the NASCAR world after such a horrific incident.
