Tony Stewart Responds to NASCAR Driver Ryan Newman's Crash, Health Update

NASCAR driver Ryan Newman has been recovering from a wreck that occurred during the Daytona 500 and resulted in him being hospitalized at Halifax Medical Center. There have been frequent updates about his condition, including a statement on Tuesday revealing that he was awake. Retired driver Tony Stewart saw this update and posted his excitement on social media.

"Happy and relieved to hear this news. We're all pulling for [Ryan Newman]," Stewart posted on Twitter on Tuesday. He also retweeted an old photo that showed him and Newman together during their time together with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Stewart had also posted about the frightening wreck during the Daytona 500. Shortly after the incident in which Newman's car flipped and caught on fire, Stewart wrote "Praying for [Ryan Newman] right now," on Twitter. Like many fans of NASCAR, he was hoping that this wouldn't be a fatal crash like the 2001 incident involving Dale Earnhardt.

Stewart-Haas Racing began in 2009, and Newman was there for the inception. He had started his NASCAR career in 2000 with Penske Racing, but he joined SHR in 2009 and found continued success while partnering with Stewart on the track.

Newman accounted for three Sprint Cup wins during his time with SHR, but he and the racing team parted ways in 2013. The reason for this split was fellow driver Kevin Harvick joining the racing team.

Harvick's presence meant that there were four drivers on the roster, also including Stewart, Danica Patrick, and Newman. SHR could only support three drivers at the time, so Newman was the odd man out.

"Unfortunately, this will be the last year that we have Ryan with us," Stewart said in 2013, per FOX Sports. "That's probably what's made this a bittersweet day. I'm bringing in one of my friends to the organization knowing that I'm losing a friend at the end of the year.

"The number one thing when Ryan and I spoke was our friendship will not change," Stewart continued. "This was a business decision that was Gene's [Haas] as well as mine. It was a hard decision. There's a personal side, and there's a business side, and for Ryan and I, we had to put the personal bit aside to work through the business part of it. But I'll do everything I can to help Ryan moving forward to help his effort to find another team next year."

Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images