Danica Patrick had one of the hardest hits in her short NASCAR career this weekend when her car slammed into a wall at the Phoenix International raceway. The rookie driver walked away uninjured according to the Associated Press.
Patrick was in 26th place with 100 laps to go when her right front tire blew coming around turn 4, causing her car to slam into the wall. She was able to get her vehicle back on the track before getting hit by fellow driver David Ragan, causing her left front fender to shred to pieces and her hood to flip over the windshield.
Patrick was able to climb out of the vehicle on her own before being taken away to the infield care center.
"Whenever those right-fronts go, they always hit hard because you don't broadside, you hit more straight on," Patrick said according to the Associated Press. "It took a hard hit both sides and I'm fine, so NASCAR is doing a good job at safety. But no real good warning. The car wasn't all that tight and most of the (problems) were in the rear, so there was no real vibration that told me that was going to happen."
Patrick was the first woman to win a Sprint Cup pole two weeks ago and lead green-flag laps at the Daytona 500 last week, which was also a first for a woman. She seemed to struggle with her new car in qualifying for Phoenix, starting in 40th place overall and reportedly had to make "major adjustments" during the race according to Sports Illustrated.
She finished 39th overall for the day after coming in at 8th at Daytona.
"For me, it sucks to lose the points," Patrick said according to the Associated Press. "Everybody works hard and after last weekend, we just wanted to get these three races to get some solid points to re-establish the garage area. We're parked in the dirt this weekend, so I really wanted my guys to get into the garage area. We'll just have to get it at Vegas."
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