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Danica Patrick calls Talladega impact the "hardest" of her career

Danica Patrick flirted with danger throughout Sunday’s Geico 500.

Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet crashed car

Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet crashed car

Jim Utter

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske Ford
Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, Paul Menard, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet pit incident
Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

After starting 40th, then moving into the top 10 in less than 30 laps into the race — then returning to the lead lap after contact with Paul Menard sent Patrick spinning on pit road — the last place the driver expected to end up was in the infield care center with eight laps remaining in the Talladega wreckfest.

But while running eighth, Patrick was punted by Michael McDowell, who had been tapped from behind by Clint Bowyer on the backstretch. The chain reaction sent Patrick ricocheting into the wall but not before launching Matt Kenseth in the process. 

Kenseth’s car flipped, then went for a wild ride skidding wheels up on the SAFER barrier before stopping right-side up. He quickly lowered his window net. 

Patrick plowed nose-first into the wall. She climbed from her car, walked over towards Kenseth’s vehicle, then stopped against the wall to catch her breath before being checked out. 

WATCH CRASH HERE

"I'm okay,” said Patrick, who finished 24th. “I got an X-Ray so that was a concern. I hit my foot pretty hard and hit my arm pretty hard. I have hit the inside wall at a superspeedway I think like four times how, and that was the hardest. 

“You know these races are just....I get the running close and pushing. But the No. 95 was just drilling me every time. There is a high likelihood that he can take himself out. I'm all about bumping, and pushing and being close but when you hit people with a certain amount of momentum, it is a problem. I can't quite remember exactly what started it. I know I got drilled from behind and turned sideways and ‘hello, wall’.”

Patrick, whose sole pole and two of her six top-10 finishes have been earned on restrictor plate tracks, felt the competition raced as if every lap was the last.

“We all kind of raced to halfway, then all raced to the rain that was coming and all raced to the end,” Patrick said. “The whole race we were racing like we were racing to the end. There were no moments to relax. I’m sure that expanded peoples’ comfort zone at the end of the race because we were used to running close. Then some people just took it to the edge.”

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