LOUDON, N.H. (AP) - Danica Patrick’s car was propped up on two wheels, he crew banging away on the battered No. 10.
Right behind her, the No. 17 was being dragged past her stall in the New Hampshire garage.
That would be the car belonging to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. _ her boyfriend.
For the second time this season, Stenhouse and Patrick connected on the track. Coming off a restart, Patrick lost control and slid sideways into Stenhouse and Travis Kvapil. Patrick and Kvapil were done for the day.
Patrick, who finished 37th, apologized for triggering the accident.
“I just got sideways and there is nothing you can do,” she said. “The worst part is that you know, obviously, I didn’t want to take anybody with me. I feel bad. What can I say? We were having a reasonable race and just didn’t mean to do it.”
Stenhouse took the high road and refused to blame Patrick.
“I’ve been wrecked before and wrecked people myself,” he said. “Fortunately, we have been able to finish a lot of these races and that is what has kept us in the points of where we are.”
Patrick and Stenhouse sat next to each other at the pre-race meeting. New Hampshire governor Maggie Hassan chatted with Patrick on pit road before the game.
Once the green flag dropped, it was another rough race for Patrick.
Patrick had her May race at Charlotte spoiled when she was wrecked by Stenhouse in their first on-track accident since they announced they were dating. She was racing in the middle of the three-wide pack when she was hit by Stenhouse and collided with Brad Keselowski. Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet suffered serious damage and she finished 29th.
Patrick was upset, but they hashed it all out on the ride home.
Time for another talk.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.