Second incident creates anger between Danica Patrick, Denny Hamlin

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Hendrick Motorsports swept Thursday night’s qualifying races for the Daytona 500, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson winning their respective duel.

The Earnhardt and Johnson wins were anticlimactic, with the drama saved for Danica Patrick’s desperate bid to make Sunday’s opening race.

Her second incident with Denny Hamlin in two days led to a frantic effort by her Stewart-Haas Racing crew to make rapid repairs for her to have a shot at making the 500. She restarted 18th with two laps to go and was pushed all the way around Daytona International Speedway by teammate Kurt Busch to finish 10th.

It was good enough for her to make the field – Patrick had to finish inside the top 15 of the second duel – but any joy was immediately lost as she confronted Hamlin on pit road.

An incident between the two in Wednesday’s practice sent Patrick to her backup car, and she felt Hamlin had spun her Thursday night.

They had a heated argument, with Hamlin at times appearing to try to calm Patrick, and he finally seemed exasperated when he covered his face with his hands.

“He cut across my rear bumper and pulls the back end around,” Patrick said. “I get being close. But he’s been going to my left rear and it just gets it light.”

Tony Stewart, her car co-owner, entered the fray and seemed to shout at Hamlin. Hamlin was adamant that Patrick’s car was too loose and the spin was an aerodynamic issue.