Danica Patrick Receives Penalty, Spins At The Daytona 500

While Danica Patrick did not blame anyone for sending her car into the grass in the latter part of the Daytona 500, she was displeased with the pit penalty she received that increased her aggressiveness on the track.

Patrick has a number of vivid memories at the race track ever since she transitioned in 2010 from open wheel to stock cars. However, the recent Daytona 500 saw the 33-year-old driver incurring a penalty due to a mistake by a pit crew. She was also involved in an incident on the track with Greg Biffle and finished 35th out of 40 drivers on Sunday.

Patrick said it was a position she did not want to be in. She made the remark after she emerged from her car inside the garage as the race was restarted for the last time. She said there was some confusion on whether one man went over the wall a bit too early.

Danica Patrick Receives Penalty, Spins At The Daytona 500 - image credit: en.wikipedia.org

NASCAR officials accused the Stewart-Haas Racing crew of Danica Patrick of going over the wall before the No. 10 Chevrolet o Patrick was within one pit stall distance from her own stall. The dispute of Patrick and her crew was of no use. She said they are unsure if the information the officials received was accurate. She added if it was accurate, they were placed in a position to become aggressive at a time when aggressiveness may not be useful in the race.

Patrick was at 10th place before the call was made. It forced her to become aggressive with other drivers for the “lucky dog” free pass to get to the lead lap. While the situation was a series of unfortunate events, they had a comparatively strong race. Danica Patrick added that while they did not have the fastest car on the track, they were able to make suitable decisions at appropriate times and allowed them to make the most out of their situation.

She restarted at 32nd place and stayed within the second drafting pack for the rest of the race before her car was tapped by Biffle on Lap 184. It caused the No. 10 Chevrolet to bounce into the infield grass and was airborne for a short time. The front end of the car was damaged from the impact on the grass. When the car was fixed in the garage, radiator fluid was leaking.

After she emerged from the car, Patrick was not sure on what happened and wanted to see a video replay before she would make any comments. Danica Patrick said things happen on the track very fast and you may not be aware of everything happening around you since you are mainly concentrating at what happens in front.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday February 22 2016, 8:43 AM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0