Danica Patrick has been making headlines all season on NASCAR after winning the pole and leading laps at the Daytona 500 and she continued that trend in Las Vegas, as she was knocked in the head by a rock at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway ahead of Sunday's race.
Patrick has kept herself busy in Las Vegas, taking in some sites with boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. including the Hoover Dam, which she documented on Twitter and Instagram. Patrick had a rough day in Phoenix last week, as she blew a tire and smashed into the wall before being hit again by David Ragan's car.
Patrick is hoping for an easier day on Sunday, when she will be taking on her boyfriend as well as the full crop of Sprint Cup drivers, including Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, who was edged out on Saturday for the win in the Nationwide Series by Sam Hornish Jr. Patrick spoke with reporters about the race on Sunday and about her expectations for the third event of the season.
"This is a fun track. I feel like it is definitely the kind of track where I feel the most comfortable at. High bank; high grip. Fourth in the Nationwide car a couple of years ago was fun, and I feel like every time I've been here, we run pretty decent. It was nice to have a test day yesterday in the Cup car, just to get up to speed there; also for me to work on some qualifying the last half of the day. I'm not sure any of that is going to happen today (referencing the rain currently falling at the track). But, it was good for us to have some extra running, and get to grips a little bit more with this new Gen 6 Chevy and see what it needs to handle well," Patrick said to AutoRacingDaily.com.
Patrick and Stenhouse are each competing for the first time full-time on the Sprint Cup circuit and will be going head-to-head on Sunday. Patrick made it into the event on Sunday after a top-36 finish last year and is taking part in the first Sprint Cup event on a 1.5 mile track this season.
Stenhouse is driving on the top circuit in the No. 17 car, which was formerly for Matt Kenseth. Stenhouse is coming off of two straight Nationwide Series titles and he has run strong over the past few weeks. Patrick and Stenhouse met on the Nationwide circuit a few years ago and the relationship turned romantic after Patrick split from her husband late last year.
So far, the two have not crashed or had to ride together on the track, but that could happen on Sunday. The two rookies are heading into the race with high expectations after last weekend in Phoenix and will be looking to start off strong after some practice time was rained out earlier in the week. In Saturday's Nationwide race, Sam Hornish Jr. took the checkered flag ahead of last week's winner Kyle Busch, making it through two restarts over the final 15 laps.
Hornish took a Nationwide flag for the second time in his career and led 114 total laps on Saturday. The end of the race saw some aggressive driving, but Hornish was able to stay ahead of late pushes from Busch and pole sitter Brian Vickers, who came in third. The rest of the results included Trevow Bayne fourth, Elliott Sadler fifth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 14th.
"You dream about having cars like this," Hornish said. "I think I used more energy celebrating than I did actually driving the car today."
Hornish has had a great start to the year, finishing in his third top 10 and now sits atop the points board by 19 points. The win snapped a 36-race streak and put him ahead of Justin Allgaier in the standings. Kyle Larson had issues for the second time this year, as his car went up in flames after crashing with Joey Gase and Ryan Sieg near the middle of the race.
Larson was involved in the scary crash at Daytona two weeks ago that sent his car airborne and into the grandstand, which sent 28 fans to the hospital. The crash sent debris and a tire into fans, three of which retained counsel for a possible lawsuit.
