Patrick Sidelined by Accident at Daytona

Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) finished 35th in Sunday’s Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, her race cut short after cutting down a right-front tire and making contact with the wall in turn two at lap 126.

The incident was the third of the night for Patrick, who had been collected in two prior multicar accidents at lap four and lap 106. In both situations, the GoDaddy Chevrolet SS sustained damage when cars in front of Patrick wrecked and she had nowhere to go to avoid the subsequent melee.

After the first incident, the team pitted three times to repair the damage to the front end and right-rear quarter panel. Following the accident, Patrick ran as high as 15th and was scored in the 16th position when the No. 5 and No. 20 cars made contact in turn four at lap 106. The No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS suffered significant right-front damage in the ensuing 12-car incident. Patrick brought the car to the attention of her pit crew, making a total of five trips to pit road during the caution period for repairs.

Patrick lined up 28th for the lap-114 restart and quickly radioed to the team that the car wouldn’t turn as she lost time to the lead pack. At lap 126, she cut down a right-front tire and made contact with the turn two wall. Patrick brought the car down pit road, and after an initial assessment, crew chief Daniel Knost had her drive the car to the garage for repairs. Further inspection revealed that the damage was too significant to get back on track, and Patrick had to settle for a 35th-place finish.

“It was definitely a bummer of a night,” Patrick said. “Here at Daytona, it’s such a roll of the dice when it comes to the race. I thought we were going to get out of here tonight with a decent finish after getting into two wrecks, but it didn’t work out that way. The guys did a great job repairing the car after the first two deals, but then we cut down a tire, got into the wall, and it just destroyed the right-front (suspension). We had a great GoDaddy Chevy here tonight, but the luck didn’t fall our way.”

TSC PR