Danica Patrick salvages top-10 finish in Sprint Unlimited
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Danica Patrick avoided total calamity in three separate wrecks on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, but her chances of a high finish in the season-opening Sprint Unlimited exhibition were ruined after her No. 10 Chevrolet sustained damage in a late wreck.
Fourth with 17 laps to go, she was engulfed in a fading draft line and was clipped by Greg Biffle after Austin Dillon slowed for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s spin on lap 62 of 75. Patrick pitted for repairs to her left rear quarter panel damage and restarted 13th, but rallied to finish 10th after another late incident.
"Yeah, I guess it's not bad," crew chief Daniel Knost said. "I thought our car was pretty good. I thought it moved around pretty well in the draft. So I'm disappointed to finish tenth. I think we had a better car than that. We missed a bunch of wrecks and then finally one got a hold of us."
Both Patrick and defending series champion Kevin Harvick had things to say to Joey Logano after the race.
"Logano was being an (expletive) out there," Patrick said on team radio after the race. "He was hitting, hitting, hitting. Then I got in front of him and he was moving me like I did something. Those Penske guys are gonna have something coming to them."
When asked what Patrick had said, Logano responded, ""I don't know. I am confused. I don't know what going on right now. I am really confused about everything."
Patrick restarted the final 50-lap second segment 23rd after making two pit stops with much of the field to maximize fuel, but climbed to 15th with 35 laps left. She narrowly avoided a 14-car crash on Lap 47 of 75, squeezing past the sliding Jamie McMurray to restart seventh after a red-flag period.
Under new rules for the season-opening Sprint Cup exhibition, Patrick earned entry as a former Daytona 500 pole winner. She had made her first start in the race last season after claiming the pole for 2013 installment of NASCAR's prestige event.
She started 15th on Saturday as the lineup was determined by a random draw by crew chiefs and fans, fell as far back as 24th of 25 drivers and as high as eighth in the opening 25-lap segment as drivers sorted out alliances and the handling of their car on a windy, cool night.
She radioed to crew chief Daniel Knost on Lap 18 that her water temperatures were "real high" at 290-300 degrees and was 20th after dipping low to avoid Brad Keselowski's sliding car as the first caution was issued on Lap 23. Patrick sustained minor damage during the accident after colliding with teammate Tony Stewart.
It was the second time in two seasons that an incident with her boyfriend fowled her evening in the Unlimited. She started 16th and finished 12th in the event last season after being collected in a nine-car crash on lap 35 that also claimed Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch. Patrick had lost control of her car after dipping two tires off the track to avoid the wreck, but her No. 10 Chevrolet was pummeled by boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who could not see because the hood of his No. 17 Ford and flipped upward.
Patrick, who in 2005 became the first female to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500 — starting and finishing fourth as a rookie — then beat her mark by finishing third in 2009, became the first female to win an IndyCar race with a victory at Motegi, Japan in 2008. She's subsequently produced gender firsts in NASCAR by winning the pole for the 2013 Daytona 500 and becoming the first woman to lead green-flag laps in the Sprint Cup series, finishing eighth in the race.
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PHOTOS: 2015 NASCAR Sprint Unlimited