Ryan Newman Is All Smiles as He Poses With 'Fishing Buddy' Martin Truex Jr. After Leaving Hospital

Following Ryan Newman's hospitalization from his fiery crash during the final lap of the Daytona [...]

By Libby Birk

Following Ryan Newman's hospitalization from his fiery crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500, fellow NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. shared a photo of himself with his "fishing buddy" Newman, signaling that he was OK after the scary incident. In a photo Truex Jr. shared to Twitter, both he and Newman sit side-by-side, smiling and flashing a thumbs-up to the camera.

"Very happy to see my fishing buddy and that he hasn't lost his sense of humor," Truex Jr. captioned the photo, which quickly gained traction on the social media platform with many users expressing their relief.

"How good is God? Just look at Ryan Newman and you'll see!!!" one Twitter user responded.

"My face is gonna break...I can't smile any bigger than I have been!!! I'm soooo happy today!!! Two Best Buds!!!" another said.

"I am not crying...... I am NOT crying.... ok , ok, I am BAWLING," someone else wrote.

"You and about 300 million other people are loving this picture," one person said.

"So happy you two trouble makers are back together!! All kidding aside, I absolutely couldn't be Happier!! Big Hugs! Big Love! Big Respect!!" another wrote.

Newman was released from Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, Wednesday afternoon, just two days after being hospitalized. The sight of Newman walking out of the hospital, accompanied by his two daughters, was a heartwarming sight for NASCAR fans.

Truex Jr.'s longtime girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, also shared a few snapshots of the visit, writing that Newman told her the following: "Sher, now we have one thing in common. Neither of us are supposed to be alive but we're both here." Pollex has had multiple battles against ovarian cancer since 2014, 247 Sports reports.

Newman and Truex Jr. have fostered a close friendship, having raced together in the Cup Series since the 2000s. Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about their friendship on Tuesday's NASCAR America: "He has this extremely close relationship with Martin Truex Jr., and me and Martin are very close friends. And I learned a lot about Ryan Newman and the friend he can be through that relationship he has with Martin," Earnhardt Jr. said. "And that really impressed me how close they became and how much time they would share with each other on the race weekends, fishing and hunting together."

While there's no set timetable for Newman's recovery, it was announced Wednesday that Ross Chastain will serve as Newman's substitute driver behind the wheel of Roush Fenway Racing's No. 6 Ford at the second race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Photo credit: Jerry Markland / Stringer / Getty

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