Patrick will have to race her way into the Daytona 500 in a backup car following a practice crash.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick will have to move to a backup car following a wreck in Sprint Cup Wednesday, putting further into question whether she'll qualify for Sunday's Daytona 500.
Just moments into the first of two practices, Patrick was running in a pack of cars down the backstretch when she clipped the nose of Denny Hamlin. The contact sent Patrick spinning into Michael Annett, who also sustained significant damage.
Hamlin took responsibility for the accident. Other drivers involved include Casey Mears and Jeb Burton.
"People say in practice that you can't make aggressive moves, but we also have to put ourselves in decent positions where we're going to have to figure out what our car is doing," Hamlin said. "Just closed as soon as I had already got inside of (Patrick) and the lane closed. It knocked me into (Mears) and we had some attrition after that."
Patrick and Annett will move to backup cars for Thursday's Budweiser Duels and start at the rear of the field in their respective qualifying races. Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing team will make repairs to the No. 11 Toyota.
Because Patrick posted the 30th-fastest time in qualifying and finished 28th in the standings last season, she enters Thursday's qualifying races in a precarious position. To guarantee herself a spot in Daytona 500, Patrick will have to finish 14th or better.
"It's unfortunate," Patrick said. "I know it was a good car. We knew we were going to have to race hard through the Duels anyway."
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