Newman suffered brain bruise

Ryan Newman

Ryan Newman said Wednesday morning on NBC’s “Today" show that he suffered a bruised brain and was knocked unconscious in his Daytona 500 crash, but he wants to return to racing “as soon as I possibly can."

Asked about what went right in the crash that helped him survive, Newman told the “Today" show: “Just where I was kind of hit, so to speak. The cage was compromised. All those welds held together, so the guys at the shop did an amazing job. I got hit from behind by a car going 190 miles an hour and it pushed me back but then (Corey LaJoie’s) car pushed me forward, his car actually hit my seat. Just lots of things that happened that aligned. The angels aligned and held a really good grip with their hands."

About his injuries, Newman said on the “Today" show: “It takes time for it to heal. I was knocked out. There was a point where I don’t remember a part of the race. Realistically, I feel so lucky. On so many levels, I feel so lucky. You look at the crash and you think that is spectacular in a bad way. You look at the car afterwards, you think about all the things that happened right for me to be sitting here."