Danica finish line crash, It seems like a safe guess that Daytona International Speedway is Danica Patrick’s favorite race track, at least until the last lap of a big race.
After running well all night the Nascar Sprint Cup driver clawed her way back to the top 10 on the final lap of the Coke Zero 400 at the fast 2.5-mile tri-oval course. She was within sight of the finish line when a bump with another car sent her green Chevrolet sliding to the inside of the track, sparking one of two multi-car crashes that marred the final lap.
Patrick wound up in 13th place. Jimmie Johnson won the race, becoming the first driver to win both Daytona races (the 500 and 400) in the same season since Bobby Allison pulled off the feat in 1982.
Saturday night’s race marked Patrick’s return to the track where she announced her arrival as a full-time Sprint Cup driver in February by taking pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500. After running in the lead pack in that race’s closing stages she finished in an impressive eighth-place.
Since the 500, the biggest race of the season, Patrick has seen the ups and downs many drivers experience but hadn’t matched that promising first-race performance until today.
Patrick has historically seemed most comfortable on large, fast oval courses that favor drivers with smooth technique and the ability to ride close to other cars in the nose-to-tail formation known as the draft.
Daytona is also one of the Sprint Cup tracks on which cars are equipped with restrictor plates — devices that limit their engines’ horsepower and tend to keep the racers in tight packs that often lead to big crashes.
The closing stages of tonight’s race were disrupted by a red flag that stopped the cars and a yellow caution flag that left only three laps of racing before the checkered flag flew.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Danica finish line crash
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