Ryan Newman keeps his Daytona crash car

The NASCAR driver’s garage stores the car that “saved” his life

Ryan Newman’s 2020 Daytona 500 car is shown in pristine condition above, for qualifying. But, the machine left the track in a mangled mess without a single straight piece on it.

The 2020 Daytona 500 ended in a horrific crash. Ryan Newman was leading the race with just a few hundred feet to go in the race.

As Newman threw a block on Ryan Blaney, he car was turned into the outside wall. The machine bounced off the wall and rotated upside down when it was then stuck but another car at 200mph.

Related: Ryan Newman crash (Video)

After the crash, NASCAR blocked the fans’ view of the wrecked machine with a tarp. A paramedic was in the car 35 seconds after the incident. Newman was unconscious and transported to a hospital.

Just a few days later, Newman walked out of the hospital, barefoot. That came as a surprise to many. After a few months of rehab, Newman returned to the track.

The NASCAR driver has a 9,600 sq ft garage that as he describes as, “twice if not three times as big as the house I grew up in.”

The driver has his wrecked machine in storage on his property…

Ryan Newman stores his crashed Daytona car

“I’ve never done this but I am going to show you something, just for a split-second,” Newman told Matt Yocum via a Zoom event as part of a “fireside chat” by Wyndham Hotels for its Wyndham Rewards members.

“This is the Daytona car from last year,” Newman said.

“That’s all I am going to show you because I have never showed anyone else but my point is this, people ask me, ‘why do you have it’ or ‘why would you want that, it’s such a bad memory?’

“And it is not, to me, it’s a memory that changed my life in lots of ways but ultimately, people ask me, ‘like why would you have it,’ and I am like, how many chances do you have to have a trophy of something that saved your life.”

“And I could go through the details and show you the cage and the seat and all that stuff. It’s crazy, I shouldn’t be standing here talking to ya’ll. I should NOT, promise you, but for some reason, I was salvaged that day and it’s special for me. It’s a disaster. Nothing on it is worth anything, except everything it’s worth something. And that is pretty special for me.”

10 months ago, Newman released a series of garage tour videos for Castrol. The wrecked machine was not shown in the videos.

Ryan Newman - Daytona International Speedway - NASCAR Cup Series
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 10: Ryan Newman, driver of the #6 Kohler Generators Ford, poses for photos during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series 63rd Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2021 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Ryan Newman talks his Daytona crash

Newman added, “I don’t know why my car turned so hard to the right when Blaney was trying to push me. It doesn’t make sense. Physically, it just doesn’t happen that often. You have to go back 20 years to Dale Earnhardt’s crash to see a car turn to the right that quick, that fast, with a car pushing it.”

Newman was the most googled athlete on Google trends data for the entire 2020 year.

“I know there are way more followed people in sports, I didn’t win any races (that year) so that was unique.”

Newman concluded, “It just tells you how powerful moments like that are and how many good people and genuine people there are out there who appreciate a dad walking out of a hospital with his daughters hand-in-hand and that’s really special.”

Related: Ryan Blaney comments on watching the Ryan Newman crash video

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Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ryan Blaney | Corey LaJoie | Daytona International Speedway

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