NASCAR: Ryan Newman hasn’t missed a race in over 18 years

Since the start of the 2002 NASCAR Cup Series season, Ryan Newman hasn’t missed a race. But that is set to change this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Two drivers have competed in each of the 649 races that have been contested since the start of the 2002 NASCAR Cup Series season: 44-year-old Jimmie Johnson and 42-year-old Ryan Newman, both of whom were rookies that year.

These 649 races include 36 races in each of 18 full seasons and the 2020 season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway this past Monday evening.

Johnson, who has already announced that the 2020 season will be his 19th and final season as a full-time Cup Series driver, is on the entry list for this Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

More from NASCAR Cup Series

• NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
• NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
• NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
• NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago
• NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500

For the 650th consecutive race, the seven-time champion is set to pilot the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

But Newman, for the first time since he became a full-time Cup Series driver, will not compete this Sunday.

The last race he missed was the 2001 season finale at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, when he was still a part-time driver for Penske Racing South, now Team Penske; he had just eight career starts to his name at the time.

Newman, who is in his second season driving the #6 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, found himself in second place when the white flag flew in Monday’s Daytona 500.

But he took the lead from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin coming down the back straightaway of the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked superspeedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney then passed Hamlin for second place.

Coming to the checkered flag, Blaney was right behind Newman. In an attempt to push his fellow Ford driver to the finish line ahead of Hamlin’s #11 Toyota, Blaney made contact with Newman, sending Newman’s car spinning up the track.

Newman’s #6 Ford barely missed Hamlin’s #11 Toyota before slamming into the SAFER barrier, at which point it flipped over onto its roof. Then, with nowhere to go, the oncoming #32 Ford of Go Fas Racing’s Corey LaJoie struck the driver’s side of Newman’s airborne machine.

The #6 Ford, now on fire, skidded on its roof for several hundred more yards — a stretch that included the finish line, at which point he was in ninth place — before it finally came to rest. The safety crew flipped it back over before extracting Newman from the car.

No update was given on his condition for several hours, other than the fact that he had been immediately transported to Halifax Medical Center. After a few hours, NASCAR confirmed that Newman was in serious condition, but that his injuries were thankfully not life threatening.

He showed improvement over the next two days, and within 48 hours, he had been treated and released. However, with Sunday’s race quickly coming up, the decision was made to replace Newman with Ross Chastain behind the wheel of the #6 Ford.

Newman’s exact injuries still have not been disclosed, but at this point, a full recovery is justifiably priority number one. As a result, for the first time in over 18 years, a Cup Series race will go green this Sunday without the South Bend, Indiana native in the field.

There is still no official timetable on his return.

While this is certainly a disappointment, everyone is aware that it could have been a whole lot worse. The safety crew and doctors did their jobs successfully, and the millions of prayers that were offered up by his friends, family, fans and all of those in the NASCAR community after the accident were answered, and at the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.