February 19, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Defying odds, Newman released from hospital two days after horrific wreck

Ryan Newman was released from Halifax Medical Center on Wednesday, according to a statement and photograph released by Roush Fenway Racing. 

Newman was shown leaving the hospital, walking hand-in-hand with his two daughters.

Newman, 42, was involved in a last-lap accident while battling for the lead in Monday’s Daytona 500. After being extricated from his No. 6 Ford, which landed on its roof, he was transported to Halifax for treatment. 

The team released a statement earlier on Wednesday that Newman was “fully alert…and true to  his jovial nature, he has also been joking around with the staff and family while playing with his two daughters.” 

“Ryan continues to express his appreciation for the outpouring of support from across the country, and he and his family are grateful for the immense level of support that has been provided by the NASCAR community and beyond,” the statement continued.

The team released a statement reading, “On behalf of Roush Fenway Racing and Ryan Newman’s family, we’d like to thank the NASCAR community for the incredible outpouring of support and compassion for Ryan. Your thoughts and prayers have comforted us all.”

Roush Fenway Racing President Steve Newmark tweeted, "We owe a debt of gratitude to many people for what transpired over the last few days but a special thanks to the incredible care and attention from the staff at Halifax Health Medical Center."

This is the 19th full season in NASCAR Cup Series for the South Bend, Indiana, native. He has posted 18 wins, 51 poles (most among active drivers), 115 top fives and 262 top-10 finishes in 657 starts. 

Last year, in his first season with Roush Fenway, Newman qualified the iconic No. 6 Ford in the Playoffs for the first time since Mark Martin drove the car in  2006. He posted three top fives and 14 top 10s en route to finishing 15th in the standings His contribution was a game changer for the team, but he refused to admit he outkicked his coverage.

“I made the best of what we had and that doesn’t always happen,” Newman said before the season. “I think Scott Graves (crew chief) and the guys at the shop, we did that not with cars that were 20th-place cars, we did that with cars that were not winning cars and we did it to the best of our ability.

“We have to figure out how to build race cars and do everything we can to be top-five. I don’t expect to have a winning car every week, but a top-five car will put you in Victory Lane. A top-10 car will get you a top five. We took 12th-place cars and finished seventh with them at times. We’ve got to do a better job across the board to put ourselves in position and I really felt like we had some momentum going at the end of the season. We had some really good runs.”

Newman carried that momentum into Daytona last week. He finished third in the first qualifier on Thursday and led 14 laps in the closing stages of the Great American Race before contact with Ryan Blaney flipped the No. 6 Ford on its roof. NASCAR scored Newman ninth.

Roush Fenway announced that Ross Chastain will substitute for Newman in the No. 6 Ford for this weekend’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.