Sooner or later Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Danica Patrick were going to find each other on the track. The word find is meant to be read wreck and on Sunday during the longest race of the NASCAR season that event happened.
Much attention has been paid to the fact that Stenhouse and Patrick are dating. Too much attention in fact.
Two cars which were largely uncompetitive on the day made headlines and it had nothing to do with the former series champion that saw his night end due to the incident.
Some could say they ran out of race track. Others believe that rookies should just get out of the way.
With 64 laps remaining in the Coca-Cola 600 the No. 17 car driven by Stenhouse slid into the side of Patrick’s car pushing her up the track slightly. Brad Keselowski who was racing along side the two was clipped sending his car and Patricks into the wall.
Replays show that Patrick had little place to go and later Keselowski took the blame for the accident
“I just cut Danica off,” Keselowski said. “I didn’t know she was still down there and I caused a big wreck. … I cut her off and wrecked her and myself. I feel bad for her and I send my apologies to her.”
Of course not everyone was in the mood to forgive and forget. Patrick’s team owner, Tony Stewart, took issue with the way younger drivers are racing in NASCAR’s top series.
“Ricky Stenhouse, I’d choke him right now if I could get to him,” Stewart told Sirius XM Radio after Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600. “One more lap of having to mess around with him… ”
Stewart made headlines earlier this year when he complained about Joey Logano blocking him at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
In the NASCAR All-Star race – run a week prior to the Coca-Cola 600 – Stewart quipped about Stenhouse and Patrick on his radio. “The married couple, they’re bound and determined they’re going to wreck each other before this is over.”
