Ryan Newman said he suffered a head injury in his crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500 but did not disclose details in a statement from the driver read before Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Newman wrote, “I was fortunate to avoid any internal organ damage or broken bones. I did sustain a head injury for which I’m currently being treated. The doctors have been pleased with my progression over the last few days.”
There is no timetable for Newman’s return to racing, but Roush Fenway Racing said the 42-year-old Indiana native is determined to get back to the track. “He has expressed unequivocally that this is where he wants to be and he wants to be back in a race car.”
Newman was leading the last lap of the rain-delayed Daytona 500 when he was involved in a crash that sent him hard into a wall, airborne, hit in the driver side door by another car, then trapped in an upside-down Ford on fire as rescue workers tried to free him from the damaged vehicle. He was hospitalized Monday night in what Roush officials called serious but not life-threatening condition.
Newman walked out of the Daytona Beach hospital roughly 42 hours later appearing unscathed and holding hands with his two young daughters.
