In the immediate aftermath of Ryan Newman’s horrendous crash at Daytona 500 in February, it was inconceivable to think the NASCAR driver would escape without life-altering injuries.
It’s a miracle he’s even alive, really, seeing the way his No. 6 Ford Mustang slammed into the wall before getting thrown up into the air and tossed around the track. Yet he made it out with not more than a “brain bruise.”
On a Zoom call with reporters Thursday, the Roush Fenway driver spent an extensive amount of time offering what he could remember from the accident. The 42-year-old said “multiple miracles” were in play to save his life, via The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck.
“Everything aligned in so many ways,” he said. “Every layer of it, there were multiple miracles that aligned for me to be able to walk out.
“I am the net result (of safety efforts). It’s not just the Newman Bar or the Petty Bar or the Earnhardt Bar. It’s the net effort of everybody in auto racing that contributed up until that day.”
Newman cited NASCAR’s innovation over the years, technically and in terms of safety measures. That includes the Arai “carbon fiber zero” helmet he only was wearing for the second time, that got crushed in the crash.
The driver doesn’t remember the final fateful lap at Daytona, where he was in the lead, or anything before leaving Halifax Medical Center where he was in serious condition.
He has watched videos of his crash, however.
“As I watched the crash, I had to make myself believe what I went through,” Newman said.
Newman gets back behind the wheel this Sunday, May 17 at Darlington, as the NASCAR Cup Series comes back. He said he has no fears about his own return.
“I’m hoping to do every lap and one more after that,” Newman said. “I think they call it the victory lap.”
