Danica Patrick’s Final Race Wrecked by Indianapolis 500 Crash

Danica Patrick’s final Indianapolis 500 was prematurely cut short when her car was involved in messy crash on lap 68.

As posted in the below video, Patrick’s car began to spin out as she went into turn 2. It spun around backwards and she collided into the outside wall on the left side of the vehicle.

As she pulled off the track, the left-rear tire was blown out, and her left-front wheel was severely damaged. She then made contact with the inside barrier.

This Indianapolis 500, which is held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is expected to be Patrick’s final race of her career. It was her first time competing in an Indy car race since 2011, as she spent the years since in NASCAR.

Patrick retired full-time from NASCAR at the end of the 2017 season. She raced in the series on final time in the 2018 Daytona 500.

This final victory lap in the IndyCar series was an emotional one for Patrick, as she confessed on Instagram ahead of the race.

“This is just a chapter in the book,” Patrick wrote on Instagram. “Today feels heavy, but only because the chapter finishing has meant so much to me. Thank you for the memories. I am at a lack of words today.”

She qualified 7th for the race, poising her in a solid start position.

“Qualifying at Indy is a thing,” Patrick wrote. “It’s special. Stressful. Rewarding. Depressing. Scary. Easy. Fast. It can change from day to day. Lap to lap. Year to year. You just never know….so I don’t take the good days for granted.”

Sadly, the damage was too much to repair wrapping up Patrick’s historical racing career on a sour note. However, reports from the track say that fans gave her cheers and a round of applause out of respect.

Patrick, who is set to host the 2018 ESPY Awards, has not yet spoken out about the crash, but some of her peers in the racing world have already reached out with kind thoughts on her and her racing career.

“I started watching Danica Patrick compete back when she ran in the Atlantic Championship Series,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote. “Lots of fun to follow her whole career. Everyone JR Motorsports appreciates all she did to help grow our company. Thank you Danica.”