NASCAR Legend Ryan Newman’s Daughter Has Racing ‘In Her Blood’

Like father, like … daughter?

NASCAR great Ryan Newman has been working with his 12-year-old daughter Brooklyn as she navigates the dirt tracks of her young racing career.

Newman taught his first-born how to drive when she was just 4-years-old sitting on his lap, in his truck in their driveway.

“I can see what she likes and what she wants to do,” Newman told Autoweek’s Deb Williams.” She’s always enjoyed being at the race track.”

The young Newman is a regular in the Box Stock class at three North Carolina dirt tracks — Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, Woodleaf Raceway Park in Woodleaf, and Mountain Creek Speedway in Catawba.

Newman has quite the racing resume to share with his daughter if she continues deeper into the world of racing.

In his 14-year career racing for NASCAR, Newman has won 18 races, with an additional 268 top ten finishes. He’s started on the pole 51 times and his best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series was in 2014, just one point behind champion Kevin Harvick.

While Newman can guide his daughter off the track, he is aware there are things she needs to learn on her own.

“I can’t teach her car control,” Newman said. “She’s got it in her butt, in her genes, in her blood and in her mind. I’ve had many people come up and tell me ‘She’s got it.'”

With the number of successes Newman has had on the track, he’s also had some horrific crashes throughout his career.

The 45-year-old driver suffered a bruised brain in the 2020 Daytona 500 crash where he was knocked unconscious. The crashes, however, didn’t shy Brooklyn from taking up the sport.

“It just looked fun,” Brooklyn told Williams.