Despite Late Crash, Danica Patrick Qualifies, Then Tempers Flare

Danica Patrick took a long, deep breath and finally exhaled after qualifying for the 57th Daytona 500 on Thursday night. But not before letting #11-Denny Hamlin have it. The two had a lengthy and animated conversation on pit road after Patrick overcame a late-race spin through the field prompted by a nudge from Hamlin in the corner to finish 10th and make the race. It was the second such incident in two days — Hamlin and Patrick crashed in Wednesday's practice.

"I don't want to have these issues, but if we're going to have these issues, we're going to deal with them," Patrick said afterward. "We can't be putting ourselves out of the race on someone else's expense and nothing happens to him. I like to race hard, but there's no point in being out there wrecking each other. I just wanted to let him know I was disappointed, of course."

The pit-road conversation lasted at least three minutes, with Hamlin taking an explanatory pose, his arms outstretched and his palms turned up. Hamlin's explanation: He was racing Patrick the same as he would anyone else. "If you're in this Cup series, you earned your way here and you can handle a lot of situations," Hamlin said. "I got close to her and her car got loose again. I just tried to explain that to Danica. I can't just say, 'Oh, it's you, so I've got to stay away 2 feet because your car's loose.' We're trying to move forward." Tony Stewart, Patrick's car owner, apparently wasn't buying it. Stewart appeared to yell something at Hamlin.

"Tony came down and said, 'You need to watch the replay,' which is good to hear," Patrick said. "My boss obviously was sitting on the pit box and saw it. We're going to have to figure it out because this isn't going to end well." ESPNW