Danica Patrick finished 33rd after being involved in an accident on lap 146 of the AdvoCare 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. Danica Patrick, who started 32nd, battled a loose-handling racecar early in the event and then was caught in an accident not of her making at the midway point of the race.
“It was a tough day all around,” said Danica Patrick, who made her 45th Sprint Cup start and her third at Phoenix.
“We started out pretty loose and got down a lap early. Then obviously we got caught up in the accident. Someone spun in front of me, and there was so much smoke I started to check up, and all of a sudden my car got hit from behind. It tore the back of the car up pretty good. It’s disappointing, but the GoDaddy guys did a good job of fixing it as best they could so we could finish. It’s tough to have a day like this, especially with a lot of people from GoDaddy here watching. Obviously, we wanted to put a better performance on for them. We’ll go to Homestead and see if we can have a good run to end the season.”
Danica Patrick ’s teammate, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, finished 10th. The third member of SHR, Mark Martin, interim driver of SHR’s No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS as he subs for the injured Tony Stewart, finished 15th.
Kevin Harvick won the AdvoCare 500k to score his 23rd career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his fourth at Phoenix.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS