HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A mediocre day for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Danica Patrick ended with a crash on Lap 141 of 267 in Sunday afternoon’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
Patrick, 35, was competing in her final race at the South Florida track after the veteran driver announced Friday that 2017 would be her last as a full-time Cup driver.
A few laps before her crash in Turn 1, Patrick tagged the wall in her No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford which ultimately led to damage to her right-side tires with an apparent blow to the right rear tire which caused her to get loose before slamming into the wall.
Kasey Kahne with nowhere to go crashed into her and sustained front-end damage but was able to continue in his final race as a Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Patrick’s Ford briefly caught fire in her attempt to bring her damaged car to pit road for assessment, but she stopped her car just shy of the entrance to the pit road where she quickly climbed from her vehicle and officially ending her 190th career Cup start.
“I hit the wall in (Turns) three and four and got some fender rub on the tire and it blew the tire. I went a couple of laps and there was smoke in the car, but they thought it was all right, but it wasn’t.
“I feel angry. I’m disappointed that it was my fault that I got the tire rub.”
Patrick finished the race 37th and registered just one top-10 finish in 2017 with a 10th place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway in June.
Sunday’s season finale wasn’t the last race of Patrick’s NASCAR tenure. On Friday, Patrick said she’ll compete in the 2018 Daytona 500 with a soon to be announced team and will promptly end her career in the Verizon IndyCar Series most prestigious race, the Indianapolis 500 in May 2018.
Despite her 11th did not finish (DNF) of the season at Homestead, the Roscoe, Ill. native seemed optimistic about her expected final NASCAR start in the Feb. 18 running of NASCAR’s Super Bowl event.
“What I’m not looking forward to is I have to go sit in my bus and wait for everyone to get done with the race before I can go home,” she joked. “That sucks, but I think that what’s coming ahead is bright for me and for the way it feels, so I’m excited.”
Patrick has 11 starts at the “World Center of Racing” with the most successful race being the 2013 Daytona 500 when she became the first female competitor to win the pole at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, led five laps and finished eighth.
Patrick wants to finish well in her farewell race, but clearly wants to avoid one scenario.
“Let’s hope I don’t end up in the medical center,” she quipped.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
