CUP: Ugly End To Patrick’s First Race

Sprint Cup

CUP: Ugly End To Patrick’s First Race

Danica Patrick had a savage crash on the last lap of the first Gatorade Duel...

Tom Jensen | Posted February 23, 2012 Daytona Beach, FL

Danica Patrick’s NASCAR Sprint Cup debut did not end well, but it was not the fault of the former IndyCar star.

Patrick ran strongly for 59 1/2 of the 60 laps in Thursday’s first Gatorade Duel at Daytona International Raceway, hanging around 10th place for most of the race.

But on Lap 60, as the field exited Turn 2, Jamie McMurray dove down from the top lane into Aric Almirola in the middle lane. That sent Almirola’s Ford careening into Patrick, who then went on a wild and violent ride into the backstretch wall, where her Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet had a savage impact. Patrick was uninjured.

“I’m betting that everybody that was watching on TV probably had the best look,” said Patrick. “From my perspective, it was obviously the last lap and the bottom lane started moving well, so that is where I was. We were just getting our run down the back and all of a sudden I got hit. I’m betting that somebody also got hit outside of me, is what I’m betting. I’m going to have to look. It was just a chain reaction every person that gets hit, next and next and next. It gets bigger and bigger. It felt like a pretty big hit, so I don’t know what it looked like. I’m really just bummed out that we didn’t finish the last two corners. ... It’s like, two corners to go and the GoDaddy car is in a ball.”

Patrick’s accident was an unfortunate end, given that she drove well throughout the race and until the crash, she had kept her nose clean and performed well.

“At the end of race, everyone’s kind of on each other’s doors and that’s what happens at the end of the race,” said Patrick. “So unfortunately, I was part of it.”

Patrick was pleased with her progress up to the point of the crash. “I felt like I was having at least a solid race,” she said. “Worked my way up there at the beginning a little bit and hung around in the front group for a while.”

It was a tough way to end the day.

“We were just looking to finish, to be honest,” Patrick said. “And that, unfortunately, was not the case. I don’t know. It (the crash) felt pretty big. I didn’t know what it looked like.”

Still, it was a valuable learning experience and helped Patrick keep up her confidence.

“I learned a lot,” she said. “It was a pretty calm race for the most part. Every now and again people get rattled and start moving around. It was pretty calm and I felt really comfortable. I was starting to learn and definitely picking up a lot about side drafting — how it affects you and how it is used so much, especially in pack racing, (and) finding good lanes and just getting used to who moves well towards the front and who doesn’t and trying to pick those right lanes.”

And, now, it’s on to the Daytona 500 for the first time.

“I feel good, I really feel good,” said Patrick. “I feel comfortable. I feel confident. I feel like if things fall our way and I can take the experience from today into Sunday. I think it can be a good day. Obviously, things that are out of your control can make it a bad day. But, that is kind of the excitement about racing at Daytona and the excitement about big pack racing.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Tom Jensen

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