SPARTA, Kentucky – Two of the NASCAR’s biggest stars clashed on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Quaker State 400.
Last week Daytona’s winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a miserable night plagued with brake issues from the start that ultimately saw the sport’s most popular driver make contact with the wall
earlier in the race.
Those same issues came back to haunt him later in the race when with 61 laps left in the race he ran into the rear of Danica Patrick racing into Turn 1. Patrick’s No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet hit the wall and then slid through the infield grass.
“What an awesome night,” Patrick sarcastically radioed to her crew afterwards.
As both drivers brought their cars to the attention of their pit crews, Patrick vented her frustration of the situation by slamming her car into Earnhardt’s.
When the race ended, MRN.com reported that Patrick climbed from her car after slamming her helmet on the roof, stormed off, stopping only for a brief conversation with co-owner Tony Stewart.
Afterwards, Earnhardt addressed the situation and maintained the incident was not intentional.
“I imagine she was not (happy),” Earnhardt said of Patrick’s anger. “I mean what am I supposed to say other than the truth? We didn’t have any brakes going into the corner. I know better than to run into her because it gets so much attention. There wasn’t nothing I could do.”
“I mean as hard as I hit her what the hell did she think I was doing trying to wreck her? We ain’t got no problem. It’s not like we were having a problem out on the racetrack with her. It’s not like I just drew her name out of a hat and decided she was the one I was going to run into tonight.”
Patrick finished 34th on Saturday night in her 100th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, but also dropped two spots in the championship standings to 22nd. She was running in 27th, but on the lead lap at the time of the crash.
She declined comment post-race.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
