Danica Patrick involved in another race crash, blames new NASCAR rules

Danica Patrick’s 2017 Daytona 500 ended even earlier than usual after she was one of the drivers involved in a "treacherous" 17-car collision which included eventual race winner Kurt Busch who managed to stay on the track.

But afterwards, of course, it was Patrick who was loudest in finding a scapegoat.

To be fair, with 15 of 40 drivers out of the race with about a quarter of the 200 laps remaining, the No. 10 Ford driver in her fifth full season might be correct in laying the blame on NASCAR’s new staged racing. 

Big crash! @JimmieJohnson, @KevinHarvick, @DanicaPatrick and others involved. #NASCAR #DAYTONA500  https://t.co/EEwW62QOHv

— FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 26, 2017

Starting this season, the races are divided into three stages with points awarded to the top drivers from each stage, counting toward their championship total.

“The stages are definitely going to add to it because not only is it creating a reason to push at certain points in the race that aren’t anything but the last 20, but you’re also seeing it shuffling the grid up,” Patrick said after being cleared by the in-field medical staff – a new requirement for those who don’t finish.

But that wasn’t the only rule she said is leading to so many drivers falling short of the finish line. Following an accident, teams that must return to pit road have a five-minute time limit for repairs. If cars cannot be fixed and return to the track at minimum speed within that time, they’re out of the race.

Prior to this season, teams had an unlimited amount of time to fix their cars and could eventually return to the track to try and earn even just a few points out of the race.

“What you’re seeing is the product of the five-minute clock,” Patrick continued. “You’re seeing a product of the new rules of having to go to the in-field care center if you don’t finish the race. … I’m totally fine. I drove my car back to the garage. I never would have come to the in-field care center if not for the new protocols, so I’m all for being all well, but it’s probably a bit much.”

She explained that on a superspeedway track like Daytona International, drivers assume multi-car wrecks have “a real high chance of happening.

“That’s the name of the game. It’s what makes it exciting, too, for the fans.”

Kurt Busch testifies ex-girlfriend is a trained assassin: Report

During a court hearing about a request for a protective order against him, NASCAR driver Kurt Busch claimed that his former girlfriend is a trained assassin. 

The race car driver known as "The Outlaw" testified Tuesday he believes Patricia Driscoll is a trained killer dispatched on covert missions around the world who once returned from a trip wearing a blood-splattered gown. 

Driscoll, who dated Busch for four years, requested the order last November, shortly after their relationship ended.

"Everybody on the outside can tell me I'm crazy, but I lived on the inside and saw it firsthand," Kurt Busch said when his attorney, Rusty Hardin, questioned why he still believed she is a hired killer.

The 36-year-old Busch, appearing in the Dover, Del. court over Driscoll's request for the no-contact order, continued to discredit his ex as a scorned woman out to destroy his career, portraying her as a character fit for a movie.

On Tuesday, Busch said that Driscoll had claimed that a female character in "Zero Dark Thirty," a film depicting the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden, was a composite of her and other women.

Busch said Driscoll repeatedly asserted her assassin status and claimed the work took her on "covert missions across Central and South America and Africa." He recounted one time when the couple was in El Paso, Texas. He said Driscoll left in camouflage gear only to return later wearing a trench coat over an evening gown covered with blood.

A day earlier, Busch said his ex-girlfriend told him she was a mercenary who killed people for a living and had shown him pictures of bodies with gunshot wounds.

"These statements made about being a trained assassin, hired killer, are ludicrous and without basis and are an attempt to destroy my credibility," Driscoll said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Not even Rusty Hardin believes this."

"I find it interesting that some of the outlandish claims come straight from a fictional movie script I've been working on for eight years," Driscoll added.

Driscoll has also filed a criminal complaint against Busch, alleging that he grabbed her and slammed her head three times into the wall of his motor coach at Dover International Speedway last fall. Busch denies those claims, which the authorities have been investigating separately.

Busch testified Monday that he decided to end his relationship with Driscoll after a race last fall because she was monopolizing his schedule and he needed to focus on racing.

Busch takes blame for causing Keselowski pileup at Quaker State 400

Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were two of the NASCAR drivers involved in a scary wreck during the 48th lap of the Sprint Cup Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday.

The multi-car crash began when Busch, coming back into the track from the apron, bumped the back left of Keselowski's car. The No. 2 then spun down onto the apron before drifting back into the track, losing control before ramming more drivers in the expanding wreck.

It was the worst crash in the track's three-year history of hosting the Sprint Cup Series racing.

"Now that didn't work out so good," Busch said over the radio during the TNT broadcast after the race was temporarily halted under a red flag. "The track just threw me right back into him. That's all my fault."

Greg Biffle, Dave Blaney and Travis Kvapil were among the other drivers whose cars sustained damage.

"I know he didn't intentionally wreck me but it's just one of those things, a chain of events, the way the cars drive." Keselowski told TNT after being released from the care center. "The track has that really bad bump down there. We all know that. So there's no reason to go down there but he still did."

Keselowski had been in contention at the time of the crash, sitting in 10th position.

Kurt Busch flips car in spectacular crash at Talladega with six laps to go

After a three-and-one-half hour rain delay at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday, it was clear that conditions were ripe for a crowd-pleasing “Big One” that could change the course of the Aaron’s 499.

A little bump on the outside between rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and J.J. Yeley triggered a multi-car crash with six laps to go. The spectacular pile-up featured Kurt Busch getting flipped into the air by a skidding Yeley and landing on the hood of Ryan Newman before it was all over. 

Newman expressed his frustration after Sunday’s crash in a manner that may wind up getting him in trouble.

“They can build safer race cars, they can build safer walls, but they can’t get their heads out of their asses far enough to keep them on the race track, and that’s pretty disappointing,” the Stewart-Haas Racing driver told Fox Sports. “I wanted to make sure I get that point across. Y’all can figure out who ‘they’ is.

“That’s no way to end a race. Our car was much better than that. That’s just poor judgment in restarting the race, poor judgment…I mean, you got what you wanted but poor judgment and running in the dark and running in the rain. That’s it, thank you.”

Busch didn't sound much happier either.

“My Mom doesn’t come to four races a year — Daytona and Talladega. Wonder why…” the former Cup champion said to Fox. “Good runs don’t pay well when you finish on the hook.”

David Ragan took the checkered flag seven hours after the race began.

Kurt Busch's expletive-filled rant: 'I hate my #*@%ing job'

Kurt Busch must have been boiling mad on Tuesday— after he was put on a year's probation and fined $50,000 for intentionally hitting Ryan Newman on pit road at Saturday's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway— but it was cold oatmeal compared to his expletive-filled freakout during the race.

During the NASCAR series race, Busch reached a fever pitch hot enough for him to declare "I hate my #*@%ing job" to the pit crew through his helmet microphone after other drivers wanted him to drop to the back of the pack.

Before that outburst, Busch screamed, "Just how it typically gets every #*@%ing week, every #*@%ing week!"

While it is kind of funny to hear No. 51 lose his temper like that, those same thoughts run through the minds of every commuter while coping with the New Jersey Turnpike evening rush hour— only they're barely moving along at 3 mph.

'Talladega Nights' paint scheme for Kurt Busch race car

Kurt Busch's Phoenix Racing No. 51 Chevrolet will sport a Ricky Bobby "ME" paint scheme from the movie "Talladega Nights: the Ballad Of Ricky Bobby" for the Aaron 499.

In the Will Ferrell comedy, NASCAR racer Ricky Bobby doesn't have a sponsor and improvises by using ME and a cougar logo.  After Busch's team was lacking a sponsor, his girlfriend suggested using the Ricky Bobby theme.

After two months of negotiations, the team got approval to use the paint scheme from the film's creators.

Life imitates art with a good cause. The car will also carry the words "I Wanna Go Fast" on the rear of the car to promote the Armed Forces Foundation.

A message on the decklid will read: "Text AFF to 50555 to donate $5".