Driver: Danica Patrick
Car: No. 10 Wonder Woman/One Cure car
Track: Kansas Speedway (May 13, 2017)
Bio: Danica Patrick began her stock car racing career at JR Motorsports before heading to the NASCAR Cup Series, and as such is a member of the JRM family, so to speak. Her No. 10 Wonder Woman/One Cure machine sure took a beating during the spring race at Kansas Speedway, through no fault of her own.
Patrick, running just outside the top 10 in 11th with 68 laps remaining in the 267-lap event, was caught up in the fiery melee entering Turn 1 when 12th-place Joey Logano’s brake rotor exploded. The result slewed Logano’s car to the left, directly into the right rear quarter-panel of Patrick’s machine, and turned her head-on at the wall.
Patrick bounded off the wall and slid around to catch it again, passenger-side first, while Logano’s machine pirouetted around ahead of her. Aric Almirola, another JRM alum, was running 23rd on the high side and still traveling at a brisk clip when he encountered the burning cars and piled in at near full speed. The impact with Logano’s left front fender stood Almirola’s No. 43 machine on its nose and broke all sorts of vital suspension pieces at both ends before it slid to a stop.
Meanwhile, Patrick’s car had burst into flames soon after her initial impact, which knocked the oil line off the engine, and Logano’s car was ablaze as well from his impact. Patrick and Logano exited their cars with alacrity, given the heat and scope of the flames. Almirola’s car was not burning, but he had suffered a compression fracture in his lower back on the impact, which caused him to miss several races.
Patrick’s car was used up in the accident and the text/phone call to Earnhardt Jr. came soon after. Dirty Mo Acres personnel then made the trip down Coddle Creek Parkway to the SHR shops to pick the car up, and it became part of the flora in the Racecar Graveyard.