Even though the latest news around Ryan Newman‘s condition has sounded positive, Dale Earnhardt Jr. would still like a chance to speak with him personally. Newman crashed during the final lap of the Daytona 500 Monday night as his car flipped over several times. Last night, he was taken to a nearby hospital and today it was reported that Newman was “awake and speaking.” However, Earnhardt, Jr. isn’t over his concern.
Dale Jr. on Ryan Newman and the past 24 hours. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/XGiYwHLfaq
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) February 18, 2020
“I just can’t stop thinking about Ryan,” Earnhardt told NBC. “Just waiting on more news, more information… when can we see him? When can we physically talk to Ryan? When can we put our own eyes on him and get a chance to see how he’s doing.”
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Earnhardt had previously sent a tweet offering his prayers to his fellow driver.
Newman’s crash occurred just before he would have crossed the finish line, and was helped out of his car and taken to a nearby hospital not long after the crash occurred. Denny Hamlin won the race for the second consecutive year, though he also ended up catching some flack for celebrating his victory when Newman’s condition was still unknown. In a tweet, Hamlin clarified his actions while sending his support to Newman.
After the crash, FOX anchor Jeff Gordon caused some speculation when he got a bit emotional while talking on-air about Newman and the overall safety concerns that come with NASCAR.
“Safety has come along way in this sport, but sometimes we are reminded that it is a very dangerous sport,” Gordon said. “Just… thoughts and prayers are with Ryan Newman and his family.”
Interestingly, in April of 2019, Newman himself spoke about the issue of safety after he’d recently clocked speeds just north of 204 mph.
“204 is way too fast,” Newman told NBC Sports at the time. “We’ve established that over the last 10 years. That’s when cars get airborne. They raised the back of the cars up an inch and it just packs more air underneath them. I hope we keep them on the ground and get lucky because I don’t think they’ve done a good job of keeping them on the ground or making an effort to keep them on the ground. We’ve got Daytona behind us without getting any cars airborne, at least to my knowledge or recollection. I hope we can keep the string going.”
