Danica Patrick confronts NASCAR after boyfriend misses Talladega race

Last week’s bizarre qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway left many drivers displeased, but perhaps none more than Danica Patrick, who took her frustration directly to NASCAR president Mike Helton.

The rules of the format prompted many drivers to elect to sit on pit road until the final minutes before attempting to post a lap. That left Patrick fuming. Not just about what transpired, but that two full-time teams -- including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Patrick’s boyfriend -- failed to qualify.

“I was really pissed off after qualifying,” Patrick said Friday at Martinsville Speedway. “I went to the NASCAR hauler and I said, ‘What the [expletive] is this? Is that what we were trying to accomplish?’

“Part of it was because it was Ricky, and part of it was because that could have just as easily been me. I know how important those races are to me and my team, but also my sponsors and the people who invest in those events, especially the big ones at the speedways, but all of them. ... I was fighting for not having someone that wasn’t deserving being in that situation.”

After venting to NASCAR, Patrick returned to the motorcoach she shares with Stenhouse, who had made 68 consecutive Sprint Cup starts. Patrick told Stenhouse she understood if he wanted to leave the track, though Patrick preferred he stayed, which Stenhouse ultimately did.

“He wanted to go home,” Patrick said. “As much as a girlfriend, I wanted him to stay and be there, I was like ‘I get it, if you want to go home, go home. I get it.’ He wanted to ride the tractor all day and not even watch the race, which I wouldn’t want to watch either if I was in that scenario, so I really understood where he was coming from. He ended up doing the right thing. He had some sponsor obligations the next day.

“I just hope that no one undeserving is ever in that scenario in the future. Hopefully NASCAR does something that it doesn’t happen.”

NASCAR instituted multi-round group qualifying prior to the season. While exciting most weeks, issues have developed at the restrictor-plate tracks of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.

Drivers by themselves cannot post a fast enough lap to qualify and are reliant on other cars to create a draft to increase speeds. But no driver wants to be leading a pack of cars, so a waiting game ensues on pit road to see who will go out first. In Stenhouse’s case, he waited too long and was unable to record a lap before time expired.

“[NASCAR] didn’t give me a solution, but I don’t blame them,” Patrick said. “You really don’t want to argue with Mr. Helton. But I was glad they were all in there because I had thought it was important that they knew that, even if it was just me that was upset and scared. I said, ‘I’m throwing my hand up saying I’m afraid it is going to be me next.’ I think they very much understood.”