Danica Patrick was reportedly unable to keep her temper in check on Saturday night during a race in Kentucky, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. accidentally crashed into her on the track due to brake issues. However, she would be rear-ended by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 208 as he had problems with his brakes and could not avoid Patrick’s vehicle. After gathering her auto, she followed Earnhardt onto pit road where Patrick proceeded to intentionally slam the back of Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet.
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Patrick vehemently cursed Earnhardt over the radio to her team immediately afterward, at one instructing a crewmember to tell Earnhardt to “go f*** yourself”. It happens to all of us. Im not too anxious about it. I got a pretty good friend so I think we will be able to talk it out..
The damage took its toll and Patrick finished the race in a very underwhelming 34 place.
Patrick didn’t speak with reporters afterward. A release on Sunday morning only said she was involved in an accident not of her making..
His entry into the corner before hitting Patrick looked very similar to his previous single-car incident though Patrick had very little empathy immediately after the incident.
The brakes got worse and worse and worse and I probably shouldnt have been racing as hard as I was when we ran into the back of Danica, Earnhardt said.
For his part in the altercation, Dale Jr. was recorded telling his team “I don’t have any brakes”, according to NASCAR. “It’s not like we were having a problem out on the racetrack with her. It’s not like I just drew her name out of a hat and decided she was the one I was going to run into tonight”. It sucks, I don’t like running into Danica cause it gets a little too much attention. The last time came with 20 laps left to go, when he broke past Joey Logano to cross under the flag by 1.5 seconds ahead of him to claim his 2nd Sprint Cup race in 3 weeks.
“That right there is what we have to do”, he said.
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Busch also gained two spots to stand 35th in points, five below the position needed to qualify for the Chase.
