[The Champ]

Well, this week Danica has a chance to finish higher than she starts...

She starts 33rd, after qualifying about .7 seconds off the pole speed. New Hampshire is known for frequent long green runs, so she very well could be a lap down inside the first 35 laps or so.

Jimmy Johnson got caught cheating again, so his outside pole starting position was forfeited and he will start from the rear. As Danica is starting from the inside row, she will still start 33rd.

The ice queen has moved up to 25th in the points. Not because of her driving skills, but because the teams around her in the points have run different drivers this season. An example of this would be Denny Hamlin is 5 points behind Danica, but he missed 4 races. The #11 car is 87 points ahead of her though with 2 different drivers filling in for Denny in the other races.

In car owner points, the #10 car is in 28th place. The 55 car is in 18th place, 130 points ahead of Danica, but also has had 3 different drivers this season. The 51 car is a similar situation with 5 different drivers this season and is 41 points ahead of Danica.

[The Champ]

The results of Danica's driving skills yesterday....



Video of the incident

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/29...eck_medium.gif

To her credit, she took responsibility for the carnage on the 17 and 93 cars. Kvapil was done for the day after Danica ran into the back end of Stenhouse which turned the 17 car into the 93 car and the both spun into the wall.

She dropped out of the race after the accident (Stenhouse finished but Kvapil's day was over). I would have expected her to be able to finish the race, but maybe after spinning out one time and then kicking her boyfriend and Kvapil into the wall she figured she'd had enough of "racing" for the day.

37th place finish and she has now dropped back to 27th in the points - 8 points in front of David Ragan driving the #34 car (severely underfunded team). The next 3 drivers behind here haven't competed in all the races.

[Sidponcho]

In the post-crash interview, she was clearly rattled. She could barely speak.

[67GTONUT]

She is in over her head......

Needs to take a step back to Nationwide series and learn these heavy cars....

She was pushed up too fast based on her marketing ......

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Sidponcho

In the post-crash interview, she was clearly rattled. She could barely speak.

Maybe she was still suffering the after effects of conversations with Stenhouse and Kvapil...

I don't think the damage to her car was significant enough to end her day. But maybe her mental state (I saw the post crash interview also) was so fragile that her team felt it best not to put her back out there.

[johnta1]

I would have expected her to be able to finish the race, but maybe after spinning out one time and then kicking her boyfriend and Kvapil into the wall she figured she'd had enough of "racing" for the day.

I think it was more about the 'little' nudge her boyfriend gave her car after catching up with her after the spin.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by johnta1

I think it was more about the 'little' nudge her boyfriend gave her car after catching up with her after the spin.

It was Kvapil that gave her the nudge out on the track. Ricky was looking for someone - but he didn't realize that she had slowed down and was already behind him...

[johnta1]

Isn't Stenhouse in the 17 car?

[63Banshee]

She'll have to give up the bunghole to make up for that one!

[Region Warrior]

Originally Posted by The Champ

The results of Danica's driving skills yesterday....



Video of the incident

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/29...eck_medium.gif

To her credit, she took responsibility for the carnage on the 17 and 93 cars. Kvapil was done for the day after Danica ran into the back end of Stenhouse which turned the 17 car into the 93 car and the both spun into the wall.

She dropped out of the race after the accident (Stenhouse finished but Kvapil's day was over). I would have expected her to be able to finish the race, but maybe after spinning out one time and then kicking her boyfriend and Kvapil into the wall she figured she'd had enough of "racing" for the day.

37th place finish and she has now dropped back to 27th in the points - 8 points in front of David Ragan driving the #34 car (severely underfunded team). The next 3 drivers behind here haven't competed in all the races.

Slower cars should get out of the way

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Isn't Stenhouse in the 17 car?

Yes, Ricky drives the 17. Ricky tore off like a bat out of hell after the wreck and appeared to want to "thank" someone for the spin (Danica?). But Danica pretty much just parked her car on the track where she is in that picture I posted. When Ricky took off in chase of "someone" - he didn't realize that "someone" was hiding behind him....

He then just slowed down and drove into the pits to start repairs.

After Ricky left the scene, Danica drove very slowly towards the pit road entrance. It was then that Kvapil caught up with her to "thank her" for the ride...

Kvapil, who placed 38th, wasn’t pleased.

“For a team like us to be running lead lap (with) 50 laps to go, shot at a top 20 is a big deal for us and just get taken out by a stupid move I guess,’’ he said.

Kvapil ran up on Patrick after the incident and banged into the side of her car.

“I think I lost my steering,’’ Kvapil said with a sly grin.

I still don't understand why they didn't get the 10 car back out on the track. As you can see from the photo - there's no damage on the driver's side and the passenger side wasn't that bad that they couldn't have got her back out. Ricky's car was in much worse shape than Danica's.

Here's a photo from shortly after Kvapil "lost his steering"...



It does appear she's got a problem on the right front, but these guys can change out the front suspension in about 15 minutes. There were over 40 laps left and she could have gone back out there and wrecked a few more cars...

[johnta1]

I saw the 17 take off fast, but I thought it was him that 'nudged' her.

I still don't understand why they didn't get the 10 car back out on the track.

She probably didn't want to end up in a higher track position than her boyfriend after the wreck?

[Alvin]

It's all a big joke until she kills someone else or gets killed in a wreck in a race over her abilities.

Heaven help the driver(s) around her in any accident that causes her serious injury. No matter what, their careers will be over, due to "pressure" political and public.

I wish no ill will, harm or injury to her or fellow drivers. But this pending train wreck is plain to see it coming.

The sport isn't badminton, it's racing...and all here know Motorsports can bite back and be lethal at an instants notice.

[David Holmberg]

After Danica banked the 17 off the 93, the 93 came back and hit her in the side pretty hard (on purpose). The 17, being her knight in shining armor went after the 83 for hitting her. He was talked out of it pretty quickly by Jack Roush on the radio.

Danica took credit for the accident but still had to hedge her words. "Either I really missed my braking mark or everyone else slammed on their brakes". She wasn't shook up after the wreck, she was MAD that she couldn't blame someone else for the wreck. She was biting her tongue...

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by David Holmberg

After Danica banked the 17 off the 93, the 93 came back and hit her in the side pretty hard (on purpose). The 17, being her knight in shining armor went after the 83 for hitting her. He was talked out of it pretty quickly by Jack Roush on the radio.

That wasn't what I recollected and I still had the race on my DVR, so I went back and watched again. Ricky was the first to leave the accident scene and went speeding by Danica and left Kvapil and his munched up race car behind him.

Like I posted earlier, Ricky was after someone, but as you posted, Jack Roush or his crew chief managed to talk him down before he did anything foolish.

Danica took credit for the accident but still had to hedge her words. "Either I really missed my braking mark or everyone else slammed on their brakes". She wasn't shook up after the wreck, she was MAD that she couldn't blame someone else for the wreck. She was biting her tongue...

I don't think Ricky was slamming on his brakes. The Ice Princess either "really missed" her braking mark or just flat out overdrove her car into her boyfriend.

[David Holmberg]

It was hard to tell by the way they showed it, but Travis went after Danica and slammed her for taking them out. Ricky wouldn't go flying after Danica, so the educated guess would be retaliation for Travis hitting her after the wreck was over. But again it was my guess. It could be that Ricky didn't know it was Danica...

You're absolutely right, no one slammed on their brakes.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by David Holmberg

It could be that Ricky didn't know it was Danica...

That's my take is that he didn't know it was the Ice Princess.

The way Ricky took off, I don't think Kvapil could have caught up to him if he tried. Travis' car was pretty "used" up... Ricky was already in the pits by the time Travis caught up to Danica.

[cuz68]

Originally Posted by 63Banshee

She'll have to give up the bunghole to make up for that one!

LMAO Dave, That was a good one.

[Alvin]

This was on in the background tonight ; and it was one of those "What did he just say?"moments.

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno introduction:

"Alright, and my next guest is the most successful female race car driver in US History...Danica Patrick!"

Wow!

[falcon4]

I've been pretty bad I must say...everytime I see her car on the TV (yes we get NASCAR live) I call out "Danica CrashPatrick"!