Bubba Wallace said Wednesday he had been supporting his “devastated” friend Ryan Blaney after the last-lap wreck in the Daytona 500 that injured Ryan Newman.
Newman was being pushed by Blaney’s No. 12 Ford when the No. 6 Ford driver lost control and slammed into the wall. Newman immediately was transported to nearby Halifax Medical Center, where he still is recovering from his injuries.
Roush Fenway Racing announced Tuesday that Newman was awake and talking to family and doctors, and the team posted another positive update Wednesday morning with a photo of Newman smiling with his daughters.
A shaken Blaney said after the race he was trying to push his fellow Ford driver to his second Daytona 500 victory.
“I was committed to pushing him to the win and have a Ford win it,” Blaney said. “I don’t know. We just got the bumpers hooked up wrong and I turned him. I hope he is all right.
“It looked pretty bad. I was trying to push him to the win. I don’t like saying that things just happen because I feel really bad about it. It was a close one. I just hope Ryan is all right.”
Brad Keselowski said Tuesday on Fox’s Race Hub that he had spoken to Blaney, and that his Team Penske teammate remained upset about what had transpired.
In a Twitter thread Wednesday, Wallace detailed his meeting Tuesday with Blaney, who is among his closest friends in NASCAR (hence Wallace referring to him by the nickname “YRB,” which stands for “Young Ryan Blaney”).
Got to spend some time with YRB yesterday. He's holding up, of course devastated and bummed about the situation. Had to sit there and explain to him, could've happened to him or any of us in the field. It's RACING. Just unfortunate to be on either end of it.
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) February 19, 2020
On pushing his Ford teammate to win the biggest race of the year. Which makes it worse bc a simple selfless gesture went south in the blink of an eye. I encouraged him to stay off social media for a bit. His head is in a decent spot. Keep sending my little brother some love! 🤘🏾
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) February 19, 2020