Newman suffered head injury at 500

Ryan Newman said he suffered a head injury in his crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500 but did not disclose details in a statement from the driver read before the Feb. 23 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I was fortunate to avoid any internal organ damage or broken bones. I did sustain a head injury for which I’m currently being treated,” Newman wrote in a statement. “The doctors have been pleased with my progression over the last few days.”

There is no timetable for Newman’s return to racing, but Roush Fenway Racing said the 42-year-old Indiana native is determined to get back to the track.

“He has expressed unequivocally that this is where he wants to be and he wants to be back in a race car,” said Roush President Steve Newmark, adding once he returns, Newman wants to be the one to address his health personally.

“Ryan actually wants to be the one in front of you to answer those questions,” Newmark said. “He and I talked about that and he’s kind of chomping at the bit to get back here and I think he feels that would be most appropriate for him to be behind the mic answering a lot of those questions.”

Roush Fenway gave its first detailed account of the harrowing ordeal that began when Newman, while leading the last lap of the rain-delayed Daytona 500, was involved in a crash that sent him hard into a wall, airborne, hit in the driver side door by another car, then trapped in an upside-down Ford on fire as rescue workers tried to free him from the damaged vehicle.

He was hospitalized Monday night in what Roush officials called serious but not life-threatening condition — which Newmark said they did not learn until Newman’s father passed along the information from doctors roughly two hours after the accident.

Newman walked out of the Daytona Beach hospital roughly 42 hours later appearing unscathed.

Baseball

FIERS CHEERED » It’s been a tumultuous few months for Fiers, the current A’s pitcher and former Houston player who helped expose the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal that’s rocked Major League Baseball. But on a cool Feb. 23 in Arizona, the 34-year-old received a largely warm reception during his first spring training appearance in Mesa.