Chastain to Drive Newman’s Roush Fenway Ford at Las Vegas

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Roush Fenway Racing announced Wednesday Ross Chastain will fill-in for Ryan Newman this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

RFR President Steve Newmark issued a statement regarding the motorsports community pouring their undeniable support for Newman, who is not only awake and alert, but released from Halifax Medical Center hours prior of the team announcing Chastain as their driver.

Ryan Newman has been treated and released from Halifax Medical Center pic.twitter.com/J0twhGgQm7

— Roush Fenway (@roushfenway) February 19, 2020

This encouraging news came just two days after his violent last-lap crash in the Daytona 500 where he was seconds away from winning “The Great American Race” for a second time.

“First and foremost, our focus remains with Ryan and his family as he continues to recover,” Newmark said. “We also want to express our sincere gratitude to all of those who have offered support and taken the time to send their thoughts and prayers to Ryan, his family and everyone at Roush Fenway Racing”.

Newmark also confirmed that both Kaulig Racing (Chastian’s NXS team) and Chip Ganassi Racing for allowed Chastain to fill-in under these circumstances as he’ll run the Wyndham Rewards colors at the 1.5-mile circuit.

“The NASCAR community has long prided itself on being a close-knit family,” Newmark said. “That is never more evident than during these types of moments, and we want to express our appreciation to everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing as well as Kaulig Racing for allowing Ross to fill in for Ryan in the No. 6 on such short notice.”

Chastain finished 27th in the two-day event at Daytona due to a late-race crash. In four previous Cup starts at Las Vegas, a 20th from Fall 2018 is his personal best when he was driving for Premium Motorsports. As for Newman’s No. 6 Ford, it finished 10th in last fall’s race.

The 27-year-old veteran is only confirmed to run at a track he won in the Xfinity Series back in 2018 as the recovery timetable for Newman is yet to be determined and will continue providing updates when it becomes available.