Despite Late Crash, Danica Patrick Qualifies -- Then Tempers Flare
— -- DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick took a long, deep breath and finally exhaled after qualifying for the 57th Daytona 500 on Thursday night.
But not before letting Denny Hamlin have it.
The two had a lengthy and animated conversation on pit road after Patrick overcame a late-race spin through the field prompted by a nudge from Hamlin in the corner to finish 10th and make the race. It was the second such incident in two days -- Hamlin and Patrick crashed in Wednesday's practice, forcing both drivers to backup cars and the rear of the field for Thursday's race.
Patrick was seething.
"I don't want to have these issues, but if we're going to have these issues, we're going to deal with them," Patrick said afterward. "We can't be putting ourselves out of the race on someone else's expense and nothing happens to him. I like to race hard, but there's no point in being out there wrecking each other. I just wanted to let him know I was disappointed, of course."
The pit-road conversation lasted at least three minutes, with Hamlin taking an explanatory pose, his arms outstretched and his palms turned up.
Hamlin's explanation: He was racing Patrick the same as he would anyone else.
"If you're in this Cup series, you earned your way here and you can handle a lot of situations," Hamlin said. "I got close to her and her car got loose again. I just tried to explain that to Danica. I can't just say, 'Oh, it's you, so I've got to stay away 2 feet because your car's loose.' We're trying to move forward."
Tony Stewart, Patrick's car owner, apparently wasn't buying it. Stewart appeared to yell something at Hamlin.
"Tony came down and said, 'You need to watch the replay,' which is good to hear," Patrick said. "My boss obviously was sitting on the pit box and saw it. We're going to have to figure it out because this isn't going to end well."
The crash was costly because it will force Patrick to a backup car -- actually, her backup to her backup -- for Sunday's race. And she'll have to start near the rear of the field.
But she's in, and that was far from a sure thing going into Thursday's races. In fact, the situation was fairly nerve-wracking after some of the owners-points provisional spots were taken up in the first Duel, putting even more pressure on Patrick to race her way in with a top-15 finish.
"Holy crap, it felt dire," Patrick said. "This whole scenario is crazy that this series has put us into. ... It's horrible that it's left up to other people and what they can do to you to whether or not you get in the race.
"It's a stressful situation, and it's fairly unfair, based on how much is out of your hands at a track like this. I have no doubt it was incredibly exciting, but it was very stressful."
Patrick was ahead of the fray earlier in the race when David Ragan spun out and when Austin Dillon, Jeb Burton and Alex Bowman crashed.
And she was cruising along in eighth with a little more than three laps to go. She looked like a lock.
Then, Hamlin turned her around in the third corner. Patrick's green No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet spun back through the field but incredibly avoided major damage.
"Eleven wrecked us again, [expletive], " Patrick's spotter, Brandon Benesch, exclaimed over the team's radio.
"I can't believe it," Patrick said. "I can't believe Denny wrecked me again."
"Denny is going to have something coming to him," she said at one point.
Patrick's crew chief, Daniel Knost, stayed calm and brought his driver down pit road for four tires and some body work to a damaged quarter-panel.
And when the race restarted for a green-white-checkered overtime finish on Lap 63, Patrick was 18th and needed to pick up three spots.
Teammate Kurt Busch locked up behind her in the draft and helped her pass several cars.
Jimmie Johnson won the race, giving Hendrick Motorsports a 2-for-2 night since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the opening Duel.
"At the end, when they told me I need four spots or 'You need to pass these cars' or 'You're 18th right now,' I was, 'OK, do I have to be desperate? Do I have to pass these cars?'" Patrick said. "Nobody answered me, so I said, 'Screw it.' I'm just going to be desperate.
"And, luckily, it shouldn't go unsaid Kurt was there for me. Without Kurt, I wouldn't have finished where I did. So a big humongous thank-you to Kurt."
That Patrick will start from the back Sunday means she'll be at risk of getting caught up in a mid-pack wreck early in the race, but it doesn't' mean she can't win.
Over the past seven years, Kevin Harvick won from the 34th spot (2007), Matt Kenseth from the back of the field in a backup car (2009) and Trevor Bayne from the 32nd spot (2011). Stewart won Daytona's summer Coke Zero 400 from the 42nd spot in 2012.
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