GoDaddy’s pair of drivers in NASCAR and IndyCar went in opposite directions Sunday, possibly counter to expectations.
Danica Patrick drove to a respectable 12th place finish in her first Sprint Cup start at Martinsville, on the lead lap. She started from the rear of the field after an engine change. It wasn’t entirely smooth sailing, as she had a spin and also contacted Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“Yeah never being to Martinsville before, I didn’t know what to expect,” she said in her post-race interview to FOX Sports. “I thought it would be crazy. The bumping and banging here really gets going. (Brian) Vickers gave me a bump, I get it. It’s good to do for GoDaddy. I felt like I made a lot of passes, and I feel like I passed people all day. It was nice to have a good weekend, after some bad ones since Daytona.”
James Hinchcliffe, meanwhile, was left stranded on course early in IndyCar’s race at Barber, and thus unable to provide an encore to his victory in the season opener at St. Petersburg.
IndyCar race control reported that as Hinchcliffe’s car was missing a wheel, they didn’t want to tow the car back to cause more damage. A plan to bring the car in on the next yellow never developed, as the race went green the rest of the way after a restart.
“I wish I could have taken a nap, but these race cars are going around making all this noise. It’s really rude of them,” he joked. “We got hit on Lap 1 and when we got the call for one to go (for the green flag) the wheel came off. I was hoping they were going to let us tow back and throw a new one on because nothing else was bent. But you dig yourself in a hole, qualify back there and these things happen. It’s a weekend to forget. We just have to come back stronger and get the GoDaddy car back on the podium.”
