Ricky Stenhouse. Jr. didn’t brag to girlfriend Danica Patrick about Talladega win

When Ricky Stenhouse Jr. pulled into Talladega Superspeedway’s victory lane last Sunday it marked the first time either he or girlfriend Danica Patrick had won a NASCAR race since the couple began dating four years ago.

But just because he won before Patrick, who earlier had been involved in an 18-car crash that knocked her out of the Geico 500, didn’t mean Stenhouse earned bragging rights for the week. In fact, there was no good-natured ribbing of any sort.

“We don’t talk about it,” Stenhouse said Friday at Kansas Speedway. “We are like every other driver. Everybody wants to win. I didn’t have bragging rights with anybody else that hasn’t won either. We just go out and try to win.”

That Stenhouse and Patrick are dating while also racing against one another 36 times a year, certainly complicates their relationship. And the two have had an occasional run-in on the track, including twice in 2013 when both were competing for Monster Energy Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors that season. (Stenhouse won the award.)

“We absolutely never mess with each other when it comes to that stuff,” Patrick said. “I think it is obviously because it means so much to us that it is a pretty crappy thing to do.

“I mean, when it comes to golf or something, I will totally mess with him. “But when it comes to something like this, no. We don’t talk about that at all. I was just simply happy for him and my weekend sucked yet again. Actually my weekend didn’t really suck. I had a fine race going on, it just ended early.”

An unintended consequence of Patrick crashing out at Talladega was that she was able to arrive in the winner’s circle so quickly. After being evaluated and released from the infield care center, she retreated to their motorhome where she began packing so she and Stenhouse could immediately depart the Alabama track when the race concluded.

But as the laps wound down and it became apparent Stenhouse was in contention for his first career win, Patrick’s attention shifted to watching the race. When Stenhouse crossed the finish line, Patrick hustled to meet her boyfriend where they shared a celebratory kiss.

“All I did was throw my tennis shoes on and got out the door on the golf cart and went to victory lane and waited for him to pull in” Patrick said. “That was a gift of an experience to be able to have in our relationship because most of the time I would be dealing with my team and dealing with whatever I had going on.

“I was fresh as a daisy. I had showered and spend the afternoon standing around celebrating with him. It was a great day.”