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Danica Patrick’s inaugural run at the Daytona International Speedway was drama filled, as the rookie Sprint Cup driver crashed during the second lap of her debut on Monday night, according to the Associated Press.
However, the crash did not appear to be her fault, race tape shows that Patrick did her best to avoid a collision between Elliott Sadler and Jimmie Johnson. Unfortunately, she couldn’t clear the hurdle in the green #10 car.
The silver lining…Patrick’s crew was able to make extensive repairs to her car and she got back into the race, rallying to finish 38th. Avid NASCAR fans concede that the rain delayed debut was a pretty impressive run, despite her being 64 laps behind the lead cars at one point, she was able to finish.
"I would have loved to have run up there. I would have loved to have got the experience when you actually were racing for positions as opposed to just feeling it out," Patrick said. "But I truly believe everything happens for a reason."
Daytona was the finale of a pretty disappointing week for Patrick, she crashed during 3 different races, the Daytona 500 on Monday, on the last lap of Thursday’s Budweiser Shootout, and the DRIVE4COPD 300 Nationwide race on Saturday.
