Danica Patrick fine after car hits wall, then is hit by another car
BY JOHN MARSHALL Associated Press
Monday, March 04, 2013
3/04/13 at 5:41 AM
AVONDALE, Ariz. - Danica Patrick had one of the hardest hits of her career when her car slammed into the wall at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, but she walked away uninjured.
Running 26th with just over 100 laps left, Patrick blew a right front tire coming around turn 4, and the right side of her car slammed into the wall.
She careened back onto the track and was hit hard by David Ragan, flipping her hood over the windshield and shredding the left front fender as protective foam flew from the driver's side door.
Patrick coasted to a stop near the inside wall with pieces of her car strewn across half the home straightaway. A smoking chunk of tire also flew into pit lane.
Patrick climbed out of her car and was quickly cleared by 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. "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, pole-winner at the Daytona 500 last week, struggled with her car in qualifying at Phoenix, starting 40th, and had to make some major adjustments during the race after reporting vibrations in the rear near the midpoint.
"For me, it sucks to lose the points," she said. "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."
With not enough stalls at Phoenix, rookie Patrick's team had to work outside the garage area.
Original Print Headline: Danica fine after car hits wall, then is hit by another car
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