For sure! So many things coming full circle! I am just one of SO many who miss Dan. https://t.co/NWRYyPHQkh
2 days ago
INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick's racing career ended with a wreck in Turn 2 at the track that made her famous. Patrick had been running near the middle of the pack in the Indianapolis 500 when she lost control, slid hard into the outside wall, then caromed across the track and hit the inside barrier.
The rest of the field missed Patrick as she came to rest on the infield grass.
Greg Huey / AP
Patrick -- who shot to prominence by finishing fourth as a rookie in 2005, the highest ever for a woman -- announced earlier this year that she would step away from racing after Sunday's race. The race capped her "Danica Double," which began at the Daytona 500, where she also crashed out well short of the finish.
"The greatest memory for me was my first Indy 500 in 2005, 13 years ago," Patrick told CBS News' Dana Jacobson.
Patrick has been a polarizing figure, and that only increased when she moved from IndyCar to NASCAR. She struggled to run up front despite driving for a powerhouse Stewart-Haas Racing team much of her career, and she wound up with just seven top-10 finishes.
Still, she is respected and in some cases revered at Indianapolis, where fans still remember her leading the 2009 race before finishing third. She was surrounded by autograph-seekers all month, and she got one of the loudest ovations during driver introductions Sunday.
Patrick said earlier this week she had no regrets about her career, and that she doesn't think she will have the itch to ever come back. Instead, she plans to spend time on her burgeoning business empire and with her boyfriend, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
"I think all of my life I've kind of felt like you're only as good as your last race. And it's fine to live by that when you're in the middle of it, because it drives you and pushes you. But for that to really be the reality of your entire career is really silly," Patrick told Jacobson.
Danica Patrick's professional driving career came to a close on Sunday after crashing out of the Indianapolis 500. Patrick started the race seventh and ran inside the top 16 before getting loose and hitting the wall on Lap 67. The 36-year-old was able to climb out of the car under her own power before making a visit to the medical center.
Patrick also wrecked of her final race in NASCAR at the Daytona 500 earlier this year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. took to Twitter after the wreck to thank Patrick for her contributions to the sport.
I started watching @DanicaPatrick compete back when she ran in the Atlantic Championship Series. Lots of fun to follow her whole career. Everyone @JRMotorsports appreciates all she did to help grow our company. Thank you Danica. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 27, 2018
Despite the disappointing finish to her career, Patrick has accomplished many milestones in auto racing since joining IndyCar in 2005. Patrick became the first woman to win an IndyCar Series race in 2008 when she won the Indy Japan 300. Her highest finish in the Indianapolis 500 was third in 2009.
Following her career in IndyCar, Patrick made the move to NASCAR, racing in both the Cup and XFINITY Series over seven years. Patrick became the first woman to clinch a pole position and holds the most starts, laps led and top-tens for a woman in the Cup Series in NASCAR. Patrick also won the XFINITY Series Most Popular Driver Award in 2012.
She won one race with 21 top-10 finishes and three podiums in her 367 races in all circuits.
Last year, Patrick announced that she would retire after running the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. She plans to focus on her business and entrepreneur opportunities in retirement. Patrick also has not ruled out a potential broadcasting opportunity.
INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) ― Danica Patrick’s racing career came to a crashing end on Sunday when her car slammed nose first into a wall before the midway point of Indianapolis 500.
Patrick, the only woman to win an IndyCar race and start from pole at the Daytona 500, lost control on lap 68 of the 200-lap race, hitting the wall coming out of corner two then spinning across the track before coming to rest.
The 36-year-old American climbed out of the car and appeared uninjured. She was examined at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway medical center and released.
Danica Patrick’s NASCAR career ended in a crash at Daytona.
Her racing career ends in a crash in the Indianapolis 500. pic.twitter.com/FzxdFfbCoo — Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) May 27, 2018
“First thing I said was that I’m not really sure what happened,” said Patrick. “It just seemed to come around and seemed pretty late off the corner.
“They said they looked back at the data and it was kind of a little lift in the middle, a little bit of understeer and then back to it and it just swung.”
Patrick, who announced last November that she would retire with the “Danica Double” contesting America’s two biggest races the Daytona and Indy 500s, saw both end the same way ― in crashes.
After qualifying seventh, the Indy 500 had promised the possibility of something special.
During a 14-year career, evenly split between IndyCar and NASCAR, it was the Indy 500 that provided most of the material for Patrick’s career highlight reel and made her one of North America’s most recognizable athletes.
Her third-place finish in 2009 remains the best-ever result by a woman in the Indy 500 while her resume also includes a fourth in 2005 (her rookie debut) and sixth in 2006.
“Yeah, It’s an entire career. But what really launched it was this,” said Patrick. “It’s both of them.
“I’ve had a lot of good fortune here and did still have some this month.
“It just didn’t come on race day but we had some good moments.”
