Patrick’s Day Cut Short by Accident

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

Danica Patrick and the No. 10 TaxAct Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) wound up with a 38th-place finish in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, after midrace contact with the No. 5 car of Kasey Kahne sent Patrick into the wall and ended the team’s day.

 

Patrick started the race from the 31st position but quickly moved forward, cracking the top-25 at lap three and breaking into the top-20 at lap 31. She fought a tight-handling racecar for much of the event, and crew chief Billy Scott called for wedge and air pressure adjustments on each trip to pit road to improve the car’s handling. Patrick ran as high as 16th before Kahne made contact at lap 120 with the right-rear quarter panel of the No. 10 Chevrolet, which spun the car directly into the wall.

 

Patrick was evaluated and released from the care center, but her No. 10 TaxAct Chevrolet suffered too much damage to be able to return to the track, relegating the team to a 38th-place finish.

 

“We were on a restart and I had a run on (Kahne), so I went down low,” Patrick said. “I saw him chase me down the track, and then the next thing I know I was getting spun up the track. I don’t know what kind of day he was having, but I just heard he was a lap down. I feel bad if he felt like he was put in a position to have to be that desperate a lap down.

 

“It’s just unfortunate. I was having a pretty good recovery day, kind of like last weekend. I was running good race laps, on the lead lap and back up into the top-20 from a bad starting position. I was looking forward to a good finish and a good off week. Unfortunately, now there is more work to be done at the shop, which is not what they want. We had a good TaxAct Chevy. Billy did a good job with the setup for today, and we were moving forward.”

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