Dancia Patrick could miss Daytona 500 after practice crash

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NASCAR driver Danica Patrick had a terrible morning Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway. Patrick is among the 49 teams entered in the Sunday’s Daytona 500. During the first practice however Patrick saw her chances of making this year’s field take a big hit.

Patrick who was a surprise Daytona 500 pole winner in 2013, had just started the practice session and was running three wide on the backstretch Patrick moved down the track and made contact with Denny Hamlin. She then nosed into the outside wall then shot back across the track collecting Michael Annett and Jeb Burton. Patrick’s car slid through the grass at the bottom of turn 3 coming to rest near the edge of the grass and the track.

“People say in practice that you can’t make aggressive moves,” Hamlin said. “But we also have to put ourselves in decent positions where we’re going to have to figure out what our car is doing. I went through the middle and it was really wide – it just closed as soon as I had already got inside of her (Danica Patrick) and the lane closed. It knocked me into the 13 (Casey Mears) and we had some attrition after that.” MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.