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No penalty for Patrick, Wheldon
06/06/2007 08:11 - (SA)
Indianapolis - The Indy Racing League will take no punitive action for the on-track collision or the subsequent post-race confrontation between Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick at Milwaukee on Sunday.
Patrick, who started 17th in the 18-car field in the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225, veered inside on the track in an attempt to pass Wheldon on the 88th lap.
The cars touched, sending Patrick's car spinning into the infield grass. She straightened the car out, but the collision bent the suspension and forced a long pit stop for repairs. She finished eighth.
Wheldon's car was not damaged and he went on to finish third, behind winner Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti.
Afterwards, an angry Patrick approached Wheldon in the pits, grabbed his arm, voiced her complaint and gave him a light push as she walked away.
Neither incident was serious enough to warrant a penalty, IRL vice-president John Griffin said on Tuesday.
"None whatsoever," he said.
"We reviewed the on-track footage after the race on Sunday and again on Tuesday morning, and our race officials determined it was nothing more than a racing incident," Griffin said. "As for Dan and Danica's pit-road conversation, it was nothing more than that in our eyes."
Patrick, running fourth at the time of the collision, said she held her line going through the first turn but Wheldon dropped low and cut her off. The right front wing of her car touched the left rear wheel of Wheldon's car, causing the suspension damage.
She later told reporters, "I just came up to him, looked up at him, put my arm around him, started walking and said, 'What happened. What was that for? Did you not see me? Why didn't you back off?' And he didn't say anything.
"I told him, 'I don't know why you're being like this, but if you don't think I'm going to remember, you're crazy,"' she added.
Wheldon disagreed with Patrick's view of the incident.
"She obviously thought she was past me," he said. "She wasn't.
"She's probably feeling the pressure of not winning races when her (Andretti Green) teammates are," Wheldon said. "She's just feisty... She's messing with the wrong person if she wants to get feisty."
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