The saying "Love Hurts" has a new meaning after Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 race in Concord, N.C., after Danica Patrick's car was nudged by boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into another driver that sent her crashing into the outside wall of the track.
On Lap 319 of the Coca-Cola 600 with 64 lap remaining, Stenhouse's car slide into the side of Patrick's No.10 Chevy, sending it into driver Brad Keselowski's vehicle. Both cars had a nasty-looking crash and needed to undergo repairs afterwards.
Patrick and Stenhouse were able to continue, but the car for Keselowski, a Sprint Cup champion, was irreparably damaged, causing him to finish at 36th place. While Patrick's race went on, she later hit the wall again and finished in 29th place.
Keselowki blamed himself for the crash afterwards, believing that Patrick maintained her position in line at the time of the crash.
"I just cut Danica off," Keselowski said. "I didn't know she was still down there and I caused a big wreck. ... I cut her off and wrecked her and myself. I feel bad for her and I send my apologies to her."
Neither Patrick nor Stenhouse commented on the accident after the race was over.
Since the announcement of their relationship earlier this year, Patrick, who has become a sex symbol in the sport of race car driving in the last few years, and Stenhouse have become the most talked-about couple in racing. Added to the attention that Patrick has been receiving lately have been her successes on the track, such as when she became the first woman ever to capture a pole position at the Daytona 500 this year.
The two have been speaking openly about their relationship, and by all accounts, it appears to be a happy one,
"I feel good about where we are," Stenhouse said of his relationship to USA Today in March. "(The news media) have been great to us. It hasn't been uncomfortable at any moment, so we're just regular people having a relationship."
According to Sporting News.com, Patrick released a statement through her team addressing the race afterwards.
"I felt like we were making real progress and starting to get the car to a place that was really good, and had an accident, which is unfortunate because we were moving up," Patrick said. "But nothing we can do about it now," Patrick's statement read.
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