Danica Patrick earns fan vote into NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race

CONCORD, N.C. -- Danica Patrick was voted into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race for the third time in four years on Saturday afternoon after she failed to race her way into the field through the Sprint Showdown.

Patrick finished 11th while three drivers transferred into the All-Star Race, but she was able to get one of two fan-voted positions and will race Saturday night.

Chase Elliott, who finished second in the final Showdown segment, was the other driver to receive the fan vote.

"First and foremost, thank you to the fans," Patrick said. "The only thing that would make this any better is if I could deliver a great finish for them and an exciting race and pass cars and make the car better for next week.

"It's just even that much better to know that I have incredible fans that always come through. Don’t think that I don’t see social media fans. And I see all the times that people said they voted for me. So, thank you very much. I hope you give you something fun to watch tonight.”

Patrick, a fourth-year driver, has made the All-Star Race thanks to a fan vote every year except for 2014. That season, the powerful Reddit community rallied around underdog Josh Wise and his Dogecoin sponsorship to put him into the race ahead of Patrick.

It seemed like this year had a chance for a Reddit repeat after the users chose Matt DiBenedetto as their favorite cause. But DiBenedetto ultimately came up short despite Sprint representative Kimberly Meesters telling Paste BN Sports the BK Racing driver "did extremely well" in the voting.