UPDATE: Purdue Grad Ryan Newman Walks Out of Hospital Holding Daughters' Hands After Wreck
UPDATED 3 p.m. ET: Less than 48 hours after he crashed on the final lap of the Daytona 500, NASCAR driver and former Purdue grad Ryan Newman was released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. He had been "fully alert and walking around" and even joking with people in his hospital room, and left a few hours later, holding hands with each of his two daughters on the way out.
"Ryan Newman continues to show great improvement after Monday night's last-lap accident at Daytona International Speedway," Rousch Fenway Racing said in a statement on Wednesday morning. "The veteran driver is fully alert and walking around Halifax Medical Center. True to his jovial nature, he has also been joking around with staff, friends and family while spending time playing with his two daughters."
The team also posted a photo of Newman and his two daughters.
Newman, a Purdue graduate, was leading the race heading down the home stretch.
The South Bend, Ind. native, was trying to hold off Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin for what would have been his second career Daytona 500 win, but instead was bumped by Blaney and the contact caused him to veer off into the wall. Newman then flipped due to the impact and bounced back into incoming traffic and was collided with again this time by another driver's car.
The Purdue engineering major, Newman, flipped and came crashing upside-down across the finish line with his car catching fire in the process. The car was extinguished and Newman had to be extracted out of the wreckage and then transported to a local hospital.
"The finish, the history, that's all great. One day it will all sink in. But right now all I'm thinking about is Ryan Newman," said the winner of the race, Denny Hamlin.
Newman has been reportedly "awake and speaking with family and doctors," according to Roush Fenway Racing, again.
On one of the most popular days in the sport of NASCAR, it was filled with more somberness than anything due to the uncertainty of the 19-year racing veteran's health. Hopefully more positive news regarding Newman's condition circulates over the coming days, as this is a great reminder of how some things are bigger than sports themselves.
Newman has always been a great racer, but he's also used his Purdue engineering degree to help make cars safer for all drivers. One of his ideas, established by NASCAR 10 years ago, probably saved his life on Monday.