Ryan Newman before the NASCAR Daytona 500, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
The only things Ryan Newman remembers about his crash in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17 and hospitalization afterward are seeing his children and walking out of Halifax Health Medical Center two days later. Only 48 hours after there was genuine concern he had been killed in the wreck, Newman left the hospital holding the hands of his two daughters.
“That tells me God was involved,” Newman, 42, said on Thursday. “I was blessed in more ways than one. I feel like a walking miracle.”
When he arrived at the hospital, Newman said he was put into a medically-induced coma. Some doctors diagnosed the 21-year NASCAR veteran and 18-time Cup Series race winner with a concussion, as others disagreed.
I’ve gotten though the majority of cards and want to thank everyone for their prayers after my crash in Daytona. I know I’ve been blessed in so many ways.
While talking to the media, Newman referred to the head injury he suffered as a “bruised brain” and acknowledged just how improbable his recovery was.
“Everything aligned perfectly for me to be alive and here with you today,” he said. “There were multiple miracles that aligned for me to walk out days later with my arms around my daughters.”
Newman returns to the track on Sunday for the Darlington 400, exactly three months after the crash at Daytona. It is NASCAR’s first race since the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 13.
The race is scheduled to begin at 3:30 ET and will be broadcast on FOX.
THIS IS THE GET IN THE GAME PODCAST
WITH SCOTT LINEBRINK
Ray Wright serves with Richard Childress Racing as the pit crew manager and is the founder of Pit Stops for Hope. In college at LSU, Wright was a part of the 2000 College World Series championship team with the Tigers.
Today on the “Get in the Game” podcast, Ray shares about his journey from being a championship baseball player at LSU to transitioning into NASCAR, the importance of work ethic and faith in his life, and the impact of his nonprofit on child hunger in North Carolina. Ray shares personal stories and insights on serving others, maintaining identity, and the lessons learned through his experiences in sports and life.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE & JASON ROMANO, FEATURING ANTHONY ALFREDO
Anthony Alfredo is the driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet car with Young’s Motorsports on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit. He made his NASCAR debut at the 2021 Daytona 500 and has two top-10 finishes in his young career.
Anthony brought in 31 endorsement deals in 2023, the most of any NASCAR driver, and is featured in the new book, “Sundays at the Track: Inspiring True Stories of Faith, Leadership and Determination from the World of NASCAR.”
Today on the podcast, Anthony Alfredo shares his testimony of coming to faith in Christ, being baptized at Daytona Beach in 2023, his pre-race prayer ritual, and the importance of his sponsors aligning with his moral convictions.
William Byron celebrates winning the NASCAR Daytona 500, Feb. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
The drama that is the Daytona 500 once again did not disappoint. And emerging from the chaos for a second straight year was William Byron, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet to victory in the “Great American Race.”
The win Sunday in NASCAR’s famed, season-opening race makes Byron just the fifth driver to ever win back-to-back Daytona 500s, and the 27-year-old becomes the youngest driver to claim multiple Daytona 500 crowns.
“It’s obviously really special,” Byron said after the race. “It’s an amazing race, and obviously a lot of crazy racing out there tonight and just a lot of pushing and shoving.”
With one lap left in overtime, Byron sat in ninth place. But as he worked his way up near the wall, the leaders in front of him jockeyed for position — and crashed each other out of the race. Byron’s fortuitous position squeaked him just by a skidding Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 car, and a clear path to the finish line emerged.
The race was just four laps from completion in regulation when a wreck involving 10 cars forced it to overtime. An earlier crash on Lap 186 also took out some key contenders, and the drivers also endured two weather delays that totaled more than 3.5 hours.
“Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there,” Byron said afterward. “I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom, and I was honestly going to go third (top) lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back.
“Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor. But just really proud of this team. … I can’t stress that enough. I’m just super thankful for this group and everything that they do in the offseason to get prepared. We plan on trying to win a lot of races this year, so we’re not going to stop here.”
As he’s developed into one of the top NASCAR drivers in the world, Byron has also leaned on his faith in Jesus. One of his longtime sponsors is Liberty University, a large private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the school’s logo is featured on Byron’s car and racing jacket. The school itself has impacted his life, as the Charlotte native is in the process of earning his degree in strategic communication through Liberty’s extensive online program. More importantly, he credits his racing partnership with the school for aiding him in his spiritual growth.
“I grew up Christian with my family being Christians and taking me to church. That was a big part of my childhood,” Byron said in a July 2019 episode of the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “But I would say really when I started racing, in my second year racing, Liberty became a sponsor of mine and that’s really when I was kind of thrust into something in the spotlight of racing.
“But I realized what was really important, and so I guess that connection (with Liberty) allowed me to further that and pursue that with people that were around me at the time. That was pretty special to me and kind of kept me grounded and helped me understand what’s really important in my life.”
In October, Byron — who describes himself as a “Follower of Christ” on social media — was a guest at one of Liberty’s convocation services and talked about discovering God’s purpose for him.
“Why do you wake up in the morning? What motivates you to do what you do?” Byron said. “How does your faith incorporate into that and what do you use from your faith to motivate you? I knew [racing] was my calling. I knew it was what I wanted to do and then there were a lot of things that lined up for me to do it. Nothing else in my life has had that effect, and I owe a lot of that to God and His purpose for me.
“… Our sport is very volatile with the way that you compete. You don’t win a lot, so there’s a lot of bad days and a lot of days that you really have to figure out what your purpose is besides just racing the car.”
He also shared that he raced with Ephesians 3:20 on his car’s dashboard for many years. The verse reads, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Byron said he has seen God fulfill that promise through racing.
“I grew up in Sunday School, going to a Presbyterian church almost every Sunday, but really my faith took off when I started racing,” he said. “I got out on my own and it was kind of my faith journey. God was always guiding my decisions and whether I was winning or losing races, I always had the grace of God be able to go through experiences and learn from it.”
One thing he learned after winning Daytona last year, Bryon said Sunday, was that he looked ahead to the rest of the season too quickly. NASCAR’s biggest race is also its first race, so there’s still a long season to come after this big win.
“I think this year, I’ll enjoy this race and then we’ll get down the road and get focused on the year,” Bryon said.
The next race on the NASCAR schedule is the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
THIS IS THE GET IN THE GAME PODCAST
WITH SCOTT LINEBRINK
Aric Almirola is a NASCAR driver currently racing part-time with Joe Gibbs Racing. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, dirt sprint-car driver Sam Rodriguez, Almirola races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as well as NASCAR’s Truck Series.
His first career win came in the 2014 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. He won the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 in 2021, and in 2022 had seven top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place result at the Daytona 500. Almirola began racing nationally at the age of 14 and made his NASCAR debut in the Sun Belt Weekly Racing Division in 2002. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year standings that year.
Today on the podcast, Scott Linebrink talks to Aric Almirola about his walk with Jesus, serving and giving back, and how racing has tested his faith.
Crazy to reflect and see where God has brought me in my career. I made my first Xfinity series start at Richmond for @joegibbsracing in 2006. Now I get to go back 18 years later with @hegetsus on the car on Easter weekend to share about Jesus love for us. Amazing and humbling. pic.twitter.com/qhAeyDVGxw
