Ryan Newman Previously Expressed Frustration About NASCAR Cars Getting Airborne Too Easily

The scene that occurred during the conclusion of the Daytona 500 left Ryan Newman in serious condition after his car went airborne and erupted into flames. Newman needed to be taken away in an ambulance after the crash. As of the latest update on Tuesday, he is awake and is talking with doctors.

Newman has previously expressed his concerns over the way NASCAR cars are becoming too fast. He did so following a race in Talladega, Alabama, last April in which he spoke about the way cars are getting more dangerous. That wasn’t the first time he voiced his frustrations about the situation.

After being involved in another car crash in 2013, which was the third time since 2009 he either had his car go airborne or had another car come down on him, Newman went off on the subject.

“I am doing this interview to let everybody know I’m all right,” Newman said to reporters afterwards according to ESPN. “They can build safer race cars, they can build safer walls. But they can’t get their heads out of their a—- far enough to keep them on the race track, and that’s pretty disappointing.

“I wanted to make sure I get that point across. Y’all can figure out who ‘they’ is. That’s no way to end a race. Our car was much better than that. That’s just poor judgment in restarting the race, poor judgment. … I mean, you got what you wanted, but poor judgment and running in the dark and running in the rain. That’s it, thank you.”

Newman saw his car flip on Monday while he was in the lead in overtime. Denny Hamlin went on to win his third Daytona 500.

Afterwards, Hamlin and his team erupted into a celebration, which rubbed many the wrong way considering the circumstances. Hamlin expressed afterwards that he had no clue of Newman’s condition.

“Obviously I saw him cross the race track,” Hamlin said. “I didn’t see the contact that the other car had when he was in the air. That’s kind of a worst case scenario you can possibly have.”

He later put out a tweet further clarifying he was not aware of Newman’s situation while his team was celebrating on victory lane.