Danica Patrick crashes Sam Hornish Jr. after checkered flag at Talladega
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Danica Patrick retaliated against Sam Hornish Jr., sending him into the wall in Turn 1 after the two drivers had taken the checkered flag in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Talladega.
The two drivers were racing for position through the tri-oval of the 2.66-mile superspeedway on the final lap with Patrick outside of Hornish. As it looked like Patrick got close to Hornish and Elliott Sadler in an attempt to side draft off the two cars, Hornish moved up to protect his position and, in the process, both cars hit the wall. Patrick took exception to the move and as the cars slowed entering Turn 1 on the cool-down lap, she rammed into his back bumper and turned him into the fence.
Hornish said after the race that he had a flat tire from contact with Joe Nemechek the lap before.
The two are very familiar with each other. Before Hornish — and subsequently Patrick — moved to NASCAR, the two raced against each other in the Izod IndyCar Series. And the two raced against each other even before that as kids, where Patrick and Hornish once crashed battling each other for the lead on the last lap.
Both Patrick and Hornish spent time, albeit briefly, at the front during Saturday's race, and both saw their chances at a win end in late race incidents. Patrick was collected in "The Big One" on the first Green-White-Checker finish attempt while Hornish and Nemechek had their get-together.
Joey Logano won the race, nipping Kyle Busch.
Patrick will make her second Sprint Cup Series start of the season next week at Darlington Raceway.
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