Late in Saturday’s practice, which began at 8:30 a.m. ET, Hamlin clipped Patrick while trying to pass her at the half-mile Tennessee track. While Patrick admitted her car was much slower, she claims it was Hamlin’s mistake for not paying attention to her signals.
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“I had just come out on tires. They were cold and I wasn’t very good anyway, I was pretty loose," Patrick explained to Fox Sports. “I came down the front straightaway and I put my finger out the window to point him by, but he hit me on entry. I don’t know if he … it looked like he came pretty close when he went to go to the inside too. Man, I love Denny (Hamlin), but he makes a lot of mistakes behind me.
“I don’t know if he misjudged it or I was going slower than he thought, but I put my finger out the window and pointed him by. I had no intention to race him. I was not fast enough. I don’t know, but the guys are going to try and fix it.”
Here’s what Hamlin had to say after the incident.
And, the incident spawned this:
While the impact caused right-front damage to Hamlin’s race car and damage to the left-rear of Patrick’s Chevrolet, neither team is expected to go to a backup car for Sunday’s Food City 500.
UPDATE: Hamlin’s car was repaired with no apparent problem. It was fastest in Saturday’s final practice. Meanwhile, Patrick continued to fight her loose-handling car and scraped a wall. That doesn’t bode well for her Sunday run. Patrick was 30th of the 40 cars in midday speeds.
