Patrick has bad ending
INDIANAPOLIS – Danica Patrick came into her first Indianapolis 500 in 2005, led the race, finished fourth and quickly became one of those athletes who transcend sports.
After six years away she came back Sunday to similar acclaim to finish her career at the place it took off, and it ended with a thud.
Two, actually. First from the outside wall in Turn 2 and then from the inside.
The 36-year-old Patrick completed 67 laps, spun by herself and left with a 30th-place finish that marked the worst of her eight starts.
“It just kind of swung around as I recommitted to the throttle,” Patrick said. “I felt a little bit of understeer in the middle of the corner. I wasn’t expecting it by any means.
“I think it just goes to show that these cars are tough to drive. All these drivers out here are great drivers.”
Past Indy winners Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan and champion driver Sebastien Bourdais also crashed by themselves.
After seven years in IndyCar, during which she became its only female winner, Patrick spent the last six seasons in NASCAR.
After failing to put together a full-season deal for 2018, she announced last fall she would retire after a “Danica Double” in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. Patrick also crashed at Daytona.
Patrick needed a day to reacclimate herself to Indy cars but qualified ninth a week ahead of the 500.
“I kind of said before I came here that I feel like if it's a complete disaster, 'complete' like as in not in the ballpark at all, look silly, then people might remember that,” Patrick said. “If I win, people will remember that.
“But probably anything in between might just be a little part of a big story. So I kind of feel like that's how it is, you know.”
Will Power became a first-time winner, local favorite Ed Carpenter finished second and a couple of upstarts had the chance for an upset. But if there’s one thing sure after about Patrick, her legion of fans made sure she’d never be a “little part” of the Indy story.
Another chance: Moments after his crash, Castroneves publicly begged team owner Roger Penske for the opportunity to return.
The 43-year-old Brazilian has been relegated to sports-car duty with Team Penske, but was entered in the 500 to try again to become the fourth four-time winner.
“It's hard to say no to him, isn't it?” Penske said.
Then Penske turned to team president Tim Cindric, who publicly granted Castroneves’ wish.
“That guy was sitting here this morning before I walked in, sitting in his fire suit next to his engineer ready to go, about 6:30 this morning,” Cindric said. “He's been in his yellow suit, I don't think I've seen him out of his yellow suit since we got here.”
Castroneves said his car had handled well before his car spun off of Turn 4 on the 146th lap. He was running fifth at the time.
“I guess when I went to pass (Ryan) Hunter-Reay on the outside, maybe got a little debris on the tire,” Castroneves said. “My worry was actually Turn 1, not so much in Turn 4, so I felt a little bit movement but I was feeling that most of the time. But this time, unfortunately the rear just over-rotated.”
No repeat: A year ago Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the 500. This time he was one of the first drivers out.
Sato crashed with James Davison on the 47th lap, leaping over the left rear tire of Davison’s car in Turn 4 to bring out the first caution. Davison was well off the pace and in the groove when Sato came upon him and failed to make the pass on the inside.
Davison – driving an entry co-owned by Mequon businessman Brian Belardi – said he had an anti-roll bar jam, limiting his ability to adjust his car’s handling characteristics.