Ryan Newman Blasts NASCAR After Flip

Ryan Newman left Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday obviously sore and presumably irritated after flipping violently in a late-race crash near the end of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' AMP Energy 500.

Newman, who was uninjured, was trapped in the car for almost 15 minutes as safety crews cut him out from exactly the type of wreck he had warned NASCAR against after an amazing crash involving him and Carl Edwards at the same track in April. And after being checked out of the infield hospital, Newman didn't hesitate to get on NASCAR again.

"Drivers used to be about to race each other and respect each other," said Newman. "Guys like Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison -- all those guys have always done that. I guess they [NASCAR] just don't think much of us [drivers] anymore."

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With five laps to go in the race, Newman got spun sideways on the backstretch before his No. 39 lifted off the ground, flipped on its roof, slid up the track's banking into the retaining wall and slid back down before tumbling multiple times. The car landed on its roof and safety officials were quickly on the scene.

Because they could determine Newman was not seriously injured, workers methodically attached Newman's car to a tow truck to turn it right side up. After gently setting it back on all four wheels, the workers cut away the roof of Newman's car to get him out.

All of this occurred as NASCAR put the rest of the field under the red flag, effectively putting a temporary stop to the race.



As Newman spoke -- he said he was sore -- he looked visibly shaken from the incident.

"I'm just really disappointed," said Newman. "We had the race back here in the spring and I complained about the cars getting airborne. Ironically, I'm the guy who gets airborne. I wish NASCAR would do something. That's not something anyone wants to see.

"It's probably the closest thing to being stuck in a tomb and not being able to get out -- all my body weight was pressed up against my head. ... I respect NASCAR. I just wish they respected me."

Just minutes later after the red flag was withdrawn for Newman's crash -- it included his teammate Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose, Kevin Harvick and others -- the race got underway again for a two lap, green-white-checkered finale but made it less than a lap under green before a bigger wreck, and yet another flipping car, ended the race.

Jamie McMurray, driving in his final season for Roush-Fenway Racing, scored the win after being in front at the point of caution after Kurt Busch was turned sideways by April's winner Brad Keselowski off of turn four. Busch's sliding car caught several others in the pack including Mark Martin.

Martin's car was hit in the right-rear, turned sideways, and tumbled across the front-stretch before coming to a stop on its wheels. As Newman did, Martin emerged without injury.

After the race -- one that ultimately left Martin with hardly a shot at catching teammate Jimmie Johnson for the championship thanks to his 28th-place finish (unofficially) -- Martin was quite contrite about the result.

"I just hope everybody enjoyed the show," said Martin.

To make the easy bet, I'd say more than a few -- especially those behind the wheel of crashing cars -- didn't.