Danica ruins teammate’s day

UPDATE A reader writes, After reading the write-up about the IRL race it seemed as if Danica was the blame for the pit mishap with TK. As I saw it and everyone else did on TV it was clearly a mess up by the team itself for not holding her before Tony arrived or radio him to let her get out. She was told to go. That mishap was not her fault and I hope TK realizes that. Robert Ryan, NY

04/29/07 Tony Kanaan, driver of the #11 Team 7-Eleven car, suffered damage to his car during an early pit lane incident and finished 15th at Sunday's running of the Kansas Lottery Indy 300. Starting from the pole position, Kanaan was fine-tuning the Team 7-Eleven car during the first stint of the race while dealing with a slight understeer condition.

While in second place and under green-flag racing conditions, Kanaan was entering the Team 7-Eleven pit box for his initial stop on lap 49 and was hit by the Motorola car driven by Danica Patrick as she exited the pits (right). Kanaan spent several laps in the pit box for repairs to the inside front of his car before returning to the race.

Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "This is an extremely disappointing day. The Team 7-Eleven car was capable of winning."

George Klotz, Race Strategist, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I don't know what to say. It is definitely unfortunate. Tony is mad and I feel bad for Danica too. It is just something that happened. Team 7-Eleven has found some speed so we'll go to Indianapolis and hopefully give Tony a car to win with."