Danica Patrick made history at Daytona last week and on Sunday at Phoenix she never had the chance, as her car blew a tire and crashed into the wall in the Sprint Cup event, leading to a 39th place finish.
According to ESPN.com, Patrick was unhurt after getting into a crash at Phoenix on Sunday. The accident began when her No. 10 Chevrolet car blew a right front tire, sending Patrick into the wall, after which she was swiped by a speeding David Ragan.
Patrick was in 26th place on the lead lap at Phoenix and her tire blew after coming down the stretch on turn four, sending her straight into the SAFER barrier next to the track. As the right front corner of the car hit the wall, Patrick's vehicle went in the air on the back tires and was then slammed by David Ragan's car. The impact knocked the hood off the car and littered the track with debris.
Patrick was blinded momentarily by the windshield and he car eventually coasted and stopped with a trail of car parts behind her.
"Whenever those right-fronts go, they always hit hard because you don't broadside, you hit more straight on," Patrick said. "It took a hard hit both sides and I'm fine, so NASCAR is doing a good job at safety. But no real good warning. The car wasn't all that tight and most of the (problems) were in the rear, so there was no real vibration that told me that was going to happen."
Patrick was off to an excellent start to the Sprint Cup season after winning the pole at the Daytona 500 as the first woman to ever do it. She led laps in the event and reached third place on the finals laps before finishing eighth behind champion Jimmie Johnson.
"It just sucks to lose the points. We were having a steady day; not great, but making progress," Patrick said.
Patrick was unhurt after the crash and will now focus on next week's event in Las Vegas. Patrick had a rough go of it in Phoenix after struggling at qualifying and finishing 40th.
Carl Edwards ended a long losing streak at Phoenix after taking the race on Sunday and he celebrated with a backflip off of his car. Daytona 500 champion Jimmie Johnson came in second behind Edwards and Denny Hamlin finished third, while Brad Keselowski finished fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up in fifth place.
The rest of the top 10 was filled out by Clint Bowyer at sixth, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton, who finished in 10th place. The win for Edwards snapped a 70-race winless drought streak and he led over the final 78 laps.
