NASCAR driver Danica Patrick got into an accident at the Coca-Cola 600 caused by her boyfriend, NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Patrick, Stenhouse and defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski came around a turn on lap 319 with their three cars parallel to each other. Stenhouse appeared to nudge Patrick on the front left side of her car, which consequently sent her into the back left panel of Keselowski's car, causing him to spin out and both drivers to hit the wall.
Keselowski, however, took blame for the wreck. Fox Sports reported an exchange between the driver and his team's spotter Joey Meier.
"I'm all right," Keselowski said. "I didn't know we were three-wide, dude."
"I never said you weren't," Meier.
"You never said I was," Keselowski said.
Despite the initial nudge in a tight three-car-wide turn from Stenhouse, Keselowski remained apologetic for the crash.
"I was three-wide with Danica and didn't know it and I cut her off and wrecked her and myself," he told Fox Sports. "I feel bad for her and I send my apologies to her. It's just a long night.
"We'll move on. That's all you can do."
Patrick did not speak to the media after the race and left reporters waiting by her car. By the time she left the garage area, Stenhouse had left his car as well. Neither driver has commented on the crash on Twitter, but Patrick did release a statement through her team, reported the Sporting News.
"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."
The Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night was mired with odd events. One of Fox Sports' nylon cables that supported an overhead camera fell and injured ten fans and also got caught up in Kyle Busch's car.
Patrick and Stenhouse continued after the collision with Keselowski, whose car sustained irreparable damage, but did not finish in the top ten. Kevin Harvick went on to win the race.
