The Daytona 500 ended in chaos Monday night when driver Ryan Newman was involved in a fiery crash during the final lap of the NASCAR race. Now, footage of the aftermath shows the scene of Newman being removed from his racecar and transported to an ambulance, which took him to a hospital.
Newman was in the lead during the final stretch of the race until he was bumped from behind by Ryan Blaney. The contact sent Newman crashing into the wall before another driver collided with the driver’s side of Newman’s vehicle, sending Newman’s No. 6 airborne before it came crashing to a halt upside-down on the side of the track.
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The car briefly caught fire before the flames were extinguished by track personnel. Newman needed to be extracted from the car before being loaded into an ambulance and transported to Halifax Medical Center.
Here’s the scene as crews worked to take #RyanNewman from the car. #hopenewman #daytona500 pic.twitter.com/1ymfaCQaTD
— Timothy Martin (@TRMFTL) February 18, 2020
Black screens were put up around the crash site to keep fans from seeing Newman get pulled from the car and onto a stretcher, but video footage from high above the scene shows Newman’s crew wheeling the stretcher to the ambulance.
Newman, 42, is in serious condition at the hospital, NASCAR said in a statement Monday night, “but doctors have indicated his injuries are not life threatening.” Fans were relieved to hear that Newman’s injuries weren’t life-threatening, taking to social media to continue to send well wishes his and his family’s way.
Newman, a 19-year NASCAR veteran, currently runs the No. 6 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. He won the 2008 Daytona 500.
Immediately following the race, Hamlin took to Twitter to explain that he was unaware of the severity of Newman’s crash when he and his team were spotted celebrating their big win.
“First and foremost I want to give well wishes and prayers to [Ryan Newman]. I had absolutely NO IDEA of the severity of the crash until I got to victory lane. There’s very little communication after the finish and i had already unhooked my radio. It’s not anyone’s fault,” he wrote.
He also brought it up at Daytona International Speedway immediately following the race.
“Obviously I saw him cross the race track,” began Hamlin, who noted that he learned of what had happened as he was walking over to victory lane. “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.
“We’re praying for the best,” he added.
Owner Joe Gibbs even released an apology for the jubilation.
“So, I say to everybody out there, some people may have saw us and said, ‘those guys are celebrating when there’s a serious issue going on.’ So I apologize to everybody, but we really didn’t know,” Gibbs shared. “We got in the winner’s circle, and then that’s when people told us. I wanted to explain that to everyone. It makes it so hard. Such a close-knit community, you know everybody.”
NASCAR said Monday that it would provide updates on Newman’s condition as they became available.
Photo credit: Mike Ehrmann / Staff / Getty
