Danica Patrick Hits Wall, Escapes Uninjured

Danica Patrick had a fantastic weekend at the Daytona 500 earlier this month but she couldn’t keep the momentum building at the Phoenix International Raceway today. Patrick hit the wall and had to retire from the race.

Thankfully, Patrick wasn’t injured in the crash.

Patrick said:

“Thank God for safer barriers … I’m glad I didn’t drive in the days without them, because they’re very important.”

According to the Star Tribune, Patrick was in 26th place with about 100 laps to go when she blew a tire heading into a turn. Patrick’s car hit the wall hard and was then hit again by David Ragan.

Patrick said:

“Whenever those right-fronts go, they always hit hard because you don’t broadside, you hit more straight on … You don’t anticipate, you don’t slide very much, there’s no way to slow the car down. They always feel pretty big, and whenever they go in head-first, they feel even bigger.”

Patrick became the first woman in NASCAR history to win a Sprint Cup Pole last weekend at the Daytona International Speedway. Patrick was able to lead a few laps at Daytona but eventually fell back to 8th place.

Patrick told USA Today:

“For me, it sucks to lose the points … 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.”

Here’s a video of Danica Patrick hitting the wall in Phoenix.

While Danica Patrick checked out the infield medical center Carl Edwards made his to victory. Edwards, who finished 33rd last weekend at Daytona, said: “This is just awesome, one of the coolest wins of my life.”