Patrick escapes crash unhurt; Truex Jr. wins
From wire dispatches
Danica Patrick’s frustrating season continued Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, where Martin Truex Jr. held off Brad Keselowski to win the NASCAR Monster Energy Series race in Kansas City, Kan.
A broken brake rotor on Joey Logano’s car sent he and Patrick into the wall and left Aric Almirola nowhere to go.
Almirola plowed into Logano’s car as it skidded along the wall, the force of the impact sent the rear of the No. 43 into the air. Almirola’s car came to rest near the outside fence, and he appeared to tell safety crews he was OK as they cut the roof off to safely get him out.
Almirola was placed on a backboard and taken to the infield care center, then was airlifted to the University of Kansas Medical Center for observation. He was conscious and alert throughout.
Logano and Patrick were checked and released from the care center.
“I’m just saying prayers for Aric,” Logano said. “Something broke in our car. I don’t know what it was. I noticed it going in and tried to back off, but you’re going 215 [mph] and I hooked Danica.
“The right front hopped or something and it took a hard left.”
That hard left caught the right rear of Patrick, sending her into the wall. Her car burst into flames as it headed back across the track and finally came to rest along the apron, and Patrick quickly got out of her flaming car and marched away.
When Logano tried to speak to her, Patrick appeared to brusquely brush him off.
“I told him, ‘I’m not sure if it was you, but I’m pretty sure it was you.’ Then he said it was a failure of some sort, which didn’t make me feel better in that moment,” Patrick said. “I hope Aric is OK. He’s definitely feeling the worst of everybody.”
Almirola was running about 10 spots behind Logano and Patrick when the crash occurred. He tried to slam on the brakes and slow down, but he started getting sideways as he made impact. The debris that was scattered across the track caused a red flag, stopping the race for nearly 30 minutes.
Patrick and Logano were running just outside the top 10 with 67 laps to go.
“A lot of us took a hard hit,” Logano said. “That’s the last thing you want to see.”
Overheating brakes had been a problem for several drivers Saturday night. Once the red flag was finally lifted and cars began rolling off, Clint Bowyer told his team over the radio he was concerned about the heat building up in his own brakes.
As for Patrick, it was the third time in four races that her night ended in a wreck. She also crashed out of the season-opening Daytona 500 and had engine trouble at Las Vegas.
“I don’t understand why so much bad luck happens,” she said. “I mean, why? What else can I say?”
Viewing perspective
By all accounts, the grandstands were perky for the Geico 500 in Talladega on Sunday. The grandstands, which accommodates 80,000 fans, seemed full, and as always the infield was rocking.
Eyeballs elsewhere, not so much.
According to Sports Media Watch, the race earned a 3.4 overnight rating on Fox, down 11 percent from both last year and 2015 (3.8). It was also the lowest overnight for the race since at least 1998 — including a rainout in 2006 (3.8)
The race — one of the signature highlights in the Cup series — has set or tied a multiyear low in five consecutive years, a decline that adds up to 30 percent.
The positive spin is that Talladega ranked fourth among broadcast sporting events last weekend, behind the iconic Kentucky Derby and a pair of NBA playoff games.
Spanish Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton took pole position ahead of Sebastian Vettel Saturday in Barcelona, restoring Mercedes’ dominance in Formula One qualifying.
Hamilton gave Mercedes its 19th pole in 20 races, two weeks after F1 leader Vettel broke its run at the Russian GP in a one-two with Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Saturday, Vettel was 0.051 behind.
It was Hamilton’s 64th career pole and his third in five races this year, putting the three-time world champion in position Sunday to challenge Vettel for the series lead. With two wins in four races, Vettel has a 13point advantage over Hamilton.
“It is going to be a tough race for us, when you see how close it is between us — it is milliseconds,” Hamilton said.