NASCAR

Cheez-It 355 at The Glen: Danica Patrick, Travis Kvapil talk about recent wrecks

After wrecking Travis Kvapil twice in three races, Danica Patrick called the NASCAR veteran this week to clear the air.

Aug 10, 2013, 1:20 PM UTC

Jared C. Tilton

In two of the past three races, Travis Kvapil has been involved in accidents -- and both times Danica Patrick was the culprit.

It was after the latest incident a week ago at Pocono that Kvapil expressed his frustration with the rookie driver. He took to Twitter post-race and called Patrick -- a native of Illinois -- a FIBS, an acronym for “F*** Illinois B******.”

The two drivers spoke this week with Patrick taking the initiative to reach out to Kvapil.

“I did call him and did talk to him,” Patrick said Friday at Watkins Glen. “I felt like it was time to do that. It was a good conversation and hopefully we don’t have any more issues in the future. It’s not good to crash cars so I don’t want to be in that position. I don’t want to be in the position to take anyone with me.”

Patrick’s goal to prevent similar situations from occurring is to remind herself not to be overaggressive and in her words, “bothered by anything.” This was a strategy she implemented at Pocono and before wrecking it paid dividends as she was running in the top 20.

But remaining patient on a tricky track like Watkins Glen can be difficult even for a veteran let alone a rookie, making just their second Cup start on a road course.

One of Patrick’s biggest supporters will not be at the track this weekend, as car owner Tony Stewart broke his leg in a sprint car race Monday. Patrick and boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. visited Stewart at the hospital and said his “spirits were high” and was “hassling the nurses.”

But not having Stewart at the track is a disadvantage as he has won a track-record five times on the 2.45-mile course.

“He is like one of the masters of this track,” Patrick said. “He’s won here a lot and so before we left I asked for all of his speed secrets. We will see if they work.”

And just as Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli stated earlier Friday, Patrick reiterated that no one within the organization is holding a grudge against Stewart for getting hurt.

“You get a lot of people on both sides of the fence about the safety of sprint car racing, but I said ‘beep’ happens,” Patrick said. “It just does. Nobody at the team is mad or upset we feel bad for him. We all want him around.

“At the end of the day those are the most important people are the people around you. None of us are mad whatsoever we just feel bad for him.”