Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated their second consecutive Daytona 500 win on Monday night, but it was overshadowed by a horrific crash involving Ryan Newman. Newman was transported to the hospital in serious condition.
Hamlin and his team immediately came under fire because while medics were checking on Newman and extracting him from his car into an ambulance, Hamlin was doing donuts and celebrating his win.
However, after the race, team owner Joe Gibbs apologized and said his team did not know the severity of the accident until making it back to the winner’s circle.
“I knew that there was a (wreck), but I never even focused over there (by Newman’s car),” Gibbs said, via USA TODAY. “I was focused on our car, and everybody started celebrating it around us. So I said to everybody out there, some people may have saw us and said, ‘Well, these guys are celebrating when there’s this serious issue going on.’ So I apologize to everybody, but we really didn’t know. We got in the winner’s circle, and that’s when people told us later.
“Racing for us, we know what can happen. You just don’t dream that it would happen.”
Joe Gibbs, owner of Hamlin car, apologizes for celebration immediately after race. They didn’t understand serious nature of Newman crash until they all got in Victory Lane. @ActionSportsJax @ActionNewsJax @ESPN690Jax pic.twitter.com/j6ENstn7Cp
— Brent Martineau (@BrentASJax) February 18, 2020
Chris Lambert, who is Ryan Newman’s crew chief, said he is deserving of the blame for Hamlin’s celebration.
“For those hammering @dennyhamlin for his donuts,put the blame on me if u must blame anyone. I told him to slow down on backstretch & give the emergency staff time to roll, that we had a bad wreck. I saw DH get in line for lug nut check & assumed he was going straight to VL,” Lambert wrote on Twitter. “I then made a beeline down to Jason Jarrett to check on the status of Ryan. I did not communicate any more info to DH after that, because I was only concerned with finding out info on Ryan. That is 100% on me, and I’M EXTREMLY SORRY.”
Hamlin also issued an apology of his own.
First a foremost I want to give well wishes and prayers to @RyanJNewman. I had absolutely NO IDEA of the severity of the crash until I got to victory lane. There’s very little communication after the finish and i had already unhooked my radio. It’s not anyone’s fault.
Rocket
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 18, 2020
RocketNewman is “in serious condition, but doctors have indicated his injuries are not life-threatening,” according to a statement from his team. We wish Newman a full and speedy recovery.