Danica Patrick apologizes after last lap crash at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 06: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, JJ Yeley, driver of the #36 Golden Corral Chevrolet, and David Gilliland, driver of the #38 Long John Silver's Ford, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 6, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 06:  Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, JJ Yeley, driver of the #36 Golden Corral Chevrolet, and David Gilliland, driver of the #38 Long John Silver's Ford, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 6, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida.  (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JULY 06: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, JJ Yeley, driver of the #36 Golden Corral Chevrolet, and David Gilliland, driver of the #38 Long John Silver’s Ford, are involved in an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 6, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The second visit of the 2013 season to Daytona International Speedway for NASCAR Sprint Cup series rookie driver Danica Patrick didn’t have as quite a happy ending as the first. Saturday night as the Coke Zero 400 took the checkered flag, Patrick was involved in a multicar crash that erupted just before the finish line.

In her first Sprint Cup series race, in the season opening Daytona 500 in February, Patrick made history on several fronts; she became the first woman to score a pole, the first to lead laps under green and the highest finishing woman in a Daytona 500 with an eight place run.

There we no such historic moments Saturday night. 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.