Danica Patrick and Ryan Truex dust-up, who’s at fault?

Bristol is known for getting drivers wicked loose and making them wreck. It’s known for bringing out tempers. Saturday was no exception. Coming off her best finish in the series, Danica Patrick was just looking to finish her first race at Bristol ever. It look like she was going to finish when it happened. She was running rookie Ryan Truex down when he got a tad loose and got into the side of her #7 Go Daddy Chevrolet. That tiny amount of contact got Patrick loose, bringing her back up onto the race track, making her hit the wall, ending her day. Here’s where it got a at complicated. Under caution, Danica saw Truex coming. You would think she would pull her helmet off and chuck it at Truex’s car, right? She didn’t. This is what she did. ‘Patrick walked toward Truex’s car as it circled the track under the caution and held up her arms.’

“I felt like I got a run down the straight and it felt like he came into my right front,” Patrick said. “I don’t know exactly what happened.”

Here’s what Ryan Truex said about the incident in an interview after the race. “I got loose, came off the wall, came down on her, my fault. I didn’t mean to do it. If she’s mad, she’s mad. There’s nothing I can do about it now. I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I don’t know if she thinks if I did it on purpose or she was mad that it happened.”

This wasn’t the first time in the race these two raced against each other. “He just runs hard – he’s run hard every time I’ve been around him and it seems like overkill. If your car is good you’ll go forward, if your car isn’t, you’ll go back and that’s just a lot of NASCAR.” Patrick said. I have something to say about this statement of hers. Running hard in NASCAR is what you do. If you can’t handle other drivers running hard around you, you don’t belong in the sport.

Ryan admits that he made a mistake. “We were fighting loose through the center and off [the corner] the whole day,” Truex said. “It was really hard to drive on long runs and I was just trying to hold on to it for another pit stop so we can work on it. I was just real free off the corner, and we came off there side-by-side, and I got kicked out sideways. I just had to bring it down to keep it off the wall and she was down there. I hate it for her. She was probably having a good run.” For being the age he is, Ryan showed a lot of maturity after the race during his interview. He didn’t get mad that Danica was pissed off at him. He just simply took the blame and apologized. That takes true maturity.

I still wasn’t quite satisfied with what the two drivers had to say, so I took it to twitter. Yes, the magical powers of twitter! Here’s what that fans had to say:

RowdyKaren421: I didn’t get to watch the race but I saw the video on NASCAR.com and Ryan did nothing wrong

KK_KFfan4: it was Bristol an Danica needs to stay in Indy car

Speeds_promdate: I think Truex was just racing hard and good Danica needs to realize that’s how you race in NASCAR, hard and aggressive

TLaut23: my opinion on Patrick and Truex. Danica needs to realize that sometimes she’s at fault. Truex got a little loose, but for the most part it’s Bristol Baby. Bristol is a track for the strong not for the weak. Today Danica showed her weakness in her emotions

Doug Stump (Facebook): I think it was just a racing accident, that is the it goes a lot of times specially at Bristol

Selina Robison Pennington (Facebook): it’s nobody’s fault, it’s racing at Bristol

Katie_2835: I think Danica Patrick needs to get used to this style of racing. Don’t complain about guys racing you hard. This is how they race

Tyler Gray (Facebook): it is Ryan’s fault because he got loose and came down just enough and Danica happened to be there. That said it’s not like he meant to do it or anything like that, just close racing at Bristol

AngieLuvsMusic: I don’t think Ryan did anything wrong. He got loose and she was there

Everyone makes a very valid point when talking about the incident between Danica Patrick and Ryan Truex. Here’s what I have to say. They are BOTH at fault. No matter how you look at it, they are both at fault. Ryan got loose. Yes, we all know that. Danica was a tad too close to Ryan when he did. But, that’s what happens at Bristol. Drivers get too close to each other. That’s who they wreck. I’m not saying that the wreck was intentional because it clearly wasn’t. Danica may have gotten the worst end of it, but it’s both of their faults. I’m not a fan of Danica’s, but I’m not going to blame her for all of it because of that. I’m a big fan of Ryan’s, but I’m not going to sit here and say that he didn’t do anything wrong. I am simply stating facts and my own opinion here.

All quotes came from here: http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/nationwideseries/Danica_Patricks_Bristol_debut_ends_with_a_crash_Ryan_Truex_takes_blame.html

　

Talent Knows No Age

Daytona 500 champion. Two-time K&N Pro Series Champion. Grandson of a 6-time Cup champion car owner. Greatest thing since sliced bread. 2010 NASCAR Nationwide series Rookie of the Year. Son of a NASCAR Cup Champion. Talent knows no age. 20. 18. 20. 20. 23. 23. Trevor Bayne, Ryan Truex, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Steve Wallace, among others. All of these drivers have been racing for years, despite what their age says about them. Some of them are young NASCAR champions, others young NASCAR winners.

Joey Logano, born May 21^st 1990. Sliced Bread. Youngest NASCAR Nationwide Series winner at the age of 18 years and 21 days and the youngest NASCAR Sprint Cup series winner at the age of 19 years and 35 days. Logano is now the youngest winner in two of NASCAR'S three top divisions. He is also the first NASCAR driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in NASCAR's three major divisions. Discovered by Mark Martin, Joey would become one of the biggest hypes of the sport in a while. When Logano was 15, Martin said “I am high on Joey Logano because I am absolutely, 100-percent positive, without a doubt that he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR. I'm positive. There's no doubt in mind.” (wikipedia) Joey was signed by Joe Gibbs racing in 2008. Despite going winless in 2010, Joey Logano showed promise at the end of last season, posting 5 top-tens in the last 6 starts, crashing out of the season finale at Homestead. 2011 hasn’t gone the way Logano would have wanted, he is currently 30^th in Cup points. Logano has 8 Nationwide wins to his lone Cup win.

Trevor Bayne, born February 19^th 1991. T-Bayne. Youngest driver to win the Daytona 500, surpassing his childhood hero (most likely still his hero), Jeff Gordon by over 5 years. Trevor Bayne showed a lot of promise in his first full year in the Nationwide series, driving for Diamond-Waltrip Racing and then for Roush Fenway Racing. Trevor captured 4 poles, during of them came in the 2010 season right after each other. He was the first driver to do so since Jeff Gordon 19 years ago. His best finish in the series is third at Gateway, where he got the pole. At the age of 19, Trevor made his Sprint Cup debut at Texas Motor Speedway during the chase. Started 25^th and finished 17^th on the lead lap. Bayne is the first driver to be born in 1991 to compete in the top two NASCAR touring series. In his second Cup start, a day after his 20^th birthday, Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, giving Ford it’s 600^th win and giving them a 1-2-3 finish. After his 5th place finish at PIR last week, Bayne sits 6^th in Nationwide points.

Ryan Truex, born March 18^th, 1992. Brother of two-time Nationwide (then Busch) Series Champion Martin Truex Jr. Two-time K&N Pro Series Champion. Developmental driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, Ryan has some big shoes to fill. His brother’s, Cup driver Martin Truex Jr. Ryan won his first K&N championship at the age of 17, only to repeat in 2010. Ryan competed in 6 Nationwide Series races in 2010. He was hoping to run for ROTY in 2011, but that was put on hold when motocross stunt performer Travis Pastrana came into the mix. He will be racing 7 races in the 99. Ryan will also share seat time with older brother Martin as well as Car owner Michael Waltrip. We all hope to see more from the youngster very soon.

Austin Dillon, born April 27^th 1990. 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck series Rookie of the Year. Grandson of Car owner Richard Childress. Dillon currently races for his grandpa’s racing team, Richard Childress Racing, which was made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt. He made his first Camping World Truck Series start at Iowa Speedway, driving the #3 truck, the first time that the number has appeared in the three major series since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the Nationwide Series back in 2002. He would finish 12th. He got his first truck will there a year later. Austin claimed his second career Truck win at Las Vegas, leading 92 of 146 laps. He finished 2010 with 2 wins, 7 top 5s, and 16 top 10s.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., born October 2^nd, 1987. 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year. He currently driver for Roush Fenway Racing. 2010 was an up and down year for Stenhouse, crashing out of 4 of the first 10 races of the season. He was replaced at Brian Ickler for 3 races and Brian Johnson at Watkins Glen. With a veteran crew chief a top of his war wagon, Stenhouse came back, posting a 3^rd place finish at Daytona. He posted 7 top tens and was locked in a tight ROTY battle with Brian Scott, which in the end Stenhouse won after a 4^th place run at Homestead. After three races into the 2011 season, Ricky Stenhouse sits 2^nd in points behind Reed Sorenson.

Steve Wallace, born August 18 1987. Son of 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace. Wallace made his first Nationwide start back in 2005, when it was the Busch series, at Memphis. For the 2006 season, Wallace raced 17 races, sharing the car with Cup driver Jamie McMurray. His first full season was in 2007, where he nab two poles, the first at Bristol and then at Nashville. His first career top five came at Richmond International Raceway on May 2, 2008. Wallace made his Cup debut at Daytona International Raceway for the Daytona 500. As of March 13^th, Steve Wallace has posted 29 top-tens and 2 poles in the Nationwide series. He is currently 14^th in Nationwide points.

Brain Scott, born January 12^th 1988. 2010 Rookie of the Year runner-up. Brian first started competing in the Camping World Truck series in 2007, posting a win (in 2009) and 20 top-tens in the series before moving to the Nationwide series in 2010 for Braun Racing. His best finish in his career is 3rd at Chicago. In September, when Turner Motorsports purchased Braun Racing, it was announced that Brian Scott would be release after the September race at Dover. On September 29, RAB Racing hired Brian to drive its #09 Ford Fusion at Kansas and eventually for the rest of the season. Despite finished 14^th in points and ahead of Ricky Stenhouse, Scott lost the Rookie of the Year battle. Brian will race the #11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing full-time in 2011. He is currently 11^th in Nationwide points

As you can see, Talent knows no age. Whether you’re 18 or 40, if you have talent, it will show. Good luck to all of these drivers in the 2011 season and beyond.

(information came from www.wikipedia.org)