Promising run goes awry for Patrick with late wreck at Pocono
A solid day all around quickly went sour for Stewart-Haas Racing's Danica Patrick with 26 laps to go in Sunday's Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Patrick was running 11th after a restart when her No. 10 SHR Chevrolet made contact with the wall as she exited Turn 3. The contact did not cause major damage to the car, but as she drove down the frontstretch, the tire came apart.
Driving into Turn 1, the right-rear tire finally went flat and sent the car sliding backward into the outside wall. The contact caused significant damage to the right-rear bumper and quarter panel to bring out the seventh caution of the race.
Patrick was able to drive her wrecked car back to pit road to the attention of her Daniel Knost-led crew. The team made repairs on pit road and kept Patrick on track, but the incident dropped her to 33rd, two laps down.
Multiple laps down to the race leaders, Patrick's troubles were not over. In the closing laps, another tire went down on the No. 10 Chevy and sent Patrick sliding off Turn 3. Patrick was able to avoid making any contact and drove the car down pit road, which allowed the race to remain under green flag conditions.
When the checkered flag flew for Martin Truex Jr., Patrick was seven laps down in the 37th spot.
"I was trying the best I could to get back into the top-10, and the car just hopped the wall," Patrick said. "We were having a great race, and I hate that wrecked our day.”
