Danica Patrick’s Full-Time Racing Career Ends With a Crash

Announcing on Friday, November 17, that she would no longer be competing in racing on a full-time basis, Danica Patrick spoke at a press conference to fans and followers of NASCAR, identifying that she will be running in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 next year before stepping away.

In her last year, and final race as a full-time driver, she finished in 37th at Homestead over the weekend after blowing a tire and being run into by Kasey Kahne, eventually rolling to a flaming stop. During the mid-point of the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, November 19, Patrick jumped out of her car uninjured in what’s been reported as the 11th time this racing season that she failed to complete a race. Out of a 36-race schedule, her announcement that she would no longer be a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver was punctuated with an abrupt exclamation point.

Photo: Facebook/Danica Patrick

In a TV interview following infield care, she noted, “It’s kind of just the story of the year…We had a tire rub. There was smoke in the car. They (her crew) thought it would be alright, but it wasn’t. … It was fun for a little while there at the end.” Her record as a NASCAR driver has some high points as well as some unexpected lows. In Texas, Patrick has the most starts, including 22 major races (10 in the NASCAR Cup Series, eight in the IndyCar Series, and four more in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Regarding her press conference statement, she noted, “It was a little bit emotional, but I’ve been working through levels of that. I have been kind of looking forward to the end.”