Larry Brown Sports

Danica Patrick was one of the contestants during for “Shoot the Puck” at the Chicago Blackhawks game on Tuesday night, and she scored on her first shot.

The racecar driver did an interview with CSN Chicago’s Susannah Collins between periods and said she wanted to see a fight in the game.

“Am I a geek fan if I want to see a fight?” Patrick asked.

After being assured she was not alone, Patrick tried her hand at the game.

Patrick scored on her first shot, allowing her to advance to the next round where there was only one slot in the goal. She missed on her three attempts for the more difficult shot, but we have to commend her for going 1-for-1 in the first round.

Danica Patrick’s relationship with fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been a major story in the racing world over the past month. Patrick admitted that dating another driver is not the best idea, but she says she can’t help it.

In an interview with Men’s Health, Patrick was asked why she thought dating one of her co-workers was a good idea.

“Well, I don’t think I thought it was a good idea,” Patrick answered. “There was nothing I could do about it. You can’t tell your heart who to like and not like. It just happened.”

Patrick is aware that a breakup could lead to tension on the track, but she says she is not thinking about that.

“Yeah, okay, I know I’m setting myself up for that. But I choose not think about that possibility right now. I’m going to be positive.”

People have wondered how the relationship would affect their racing. Patrick says the two already respected each other on the track, so that will continue. In the interview, Patrick also acknowledged that she has a temper, though she says she is doing better to control it.

Patrick and Stenhouse raced in the Nationwide Series last season, and they are rookies in the Sprint Cup Series this season. The relationship was made public a few months after Patrick’s divorce from her husband was announced.

You can read Patrick’s entire interview with Men’s Health here.

H/T People

Donovan McNabb clearly is not a big NASCAR enthusiast. Much like football, auto racing is not for everyone. On Sunday, Danica Patrick became the first female driver to ever win the pole in a Sprint Cup Series race. The fact that she accomplished the feat at the Daytona 500 makes it even more noteworthy.

By topping 196 mph in one of her qualifying laps, Patrick earned the right to lead the field at the start of the most popular race of the NASCAR calendar year next weekend. Judging by the congratulatory tweet McNabb sent her on Sunday, it would appear that he thinks she accomplished more than just winning the pole.

Congrats to the Illinois native Danica Patrick on her win today. The first female to win in a big race with this magnitude. Big win

— Donovan McNabb (@donovanjmcnabb) February 17, 2013

Perhaps she will cap off the amazing story by winning the Daytona 500, but Donovan is a little bit ahead of himself here. Rather than simply acknowledging that he made a mistake, McNabb made a very sad attempt to clarify what he meant several hours later.

To all the haters, in order to qualify you need to win and beat someone. Hmmm. Ponder on that one. Smh

— Donovan McNabb (@donovanjmcnabb) February 18, 2013

Oh boy. McNabb may have some questionable opinions when it comes to professional football, but at least it is a sport he is knowledgable about. Kudos to him for taking the time to congratulate Patrick, but let’s not get carried away with the BS-ing. You thought she won the race itself — it’s okay to admit it.

Is Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the secret to Danica Patrick’s success? Or does she have a great car?

Patrick won the pole for the Daytona 500 next weekend, becoming the first woman to win the pole in NASCAR’s top division. Her lap at 196.434 mph helped her gain the pole for the Great American Race.

On Thursday, NASCAR held its media day as it prepared to open up the new season of racing. Patrick’s relationship with Stenhouse has been the talk of the sport over the past month, and Stenhouse answered questions about it.

When asked what he liked about Patrick, the back-to-back Nationwide Series winner had a simple answer: “She’s hot,” he said.

Stenhouse is 25 and a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series. Patrick, 30, is also a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series, though she has raced in it 10 times.

Patrick announced in November that she would be divorcing husband Paul Edward Hospenthal after seven years of marriage. Stenhouse and Patrick revealed last month that they are dating.

“Media day, we knew the story was going to be about us,” Stenhouse said Sunday, per Bob Pockrass of Sporting News. “That was really kind of the biggest thing going into this week. But now that we’re on the racetrack and we’ve got races under our belt, … hopefully we can talk about things on the racetrack and that’s what we’re here for.

“We’re here to race. Hopefully we can put all our focus on that and go for it.”

Stenhouse was No. 12 in qualifying.

Danica Patrick traded paint with fellow driver Landon Cassill on Sunday at Kansas Speedway and lost. Fighting for position near the rear of the field in the middle of the race, Patrick admitted it was “frustration” that caused her to get tangled up with Cassill but resulted in her wrecking her own car. Cassill says he was baffled by Patrick’s racing style.

“It’s still halfway through the race,” Cassill said according to FOX Sports. “(Patrick) is starting behind me, and she makes it three-wide going into (Turn) 1. I was wondering what the hell she was doing. Then she’s holding us all up. … She was crowding me … It’s not how you race for 30th on Lap 150 or whatever lap it was. I got her loose and then door-checked her down the front stretch.

“I didn’t hit her because she was in the way. I hit her because she was driving like a maniac for 30th when the race was playing into all our favors. … All we had to do was let the race come into our hands and not wreck ourselves in the process.”

Cassill acknowledged that his car wasn’t as fast as he would have liked all afternoon, but he felt that there was no need for Danica to be driving that aggressively with so much race left. Patrick said Cassill hit her earlier in the race and that she needs to stand up for herself when something like that happens multiple times, but she admitted her execution was poor.

“If it’s one time, I can imagine it’s frustration, but it’s been quite a few times with him,” Patrick explained. “At some point I have to stand up for myself, so this doesn’t happen with other people. I chose today. The bummer about it is that my car is out, and he’s still out there going, so I’ve got to work on how to do that.”

Danica finished 32nd and destroyed the car that her team intended to use at another race in two weeks. We have seen some examples of Patrick’s temper in the past, but obviously she would have been better off trying to control it on Sunday. Cassill finished 18th, so he clearly got the last laugh.

Danica Patrick was leading the NAPA Auto Parts 200 in Montreal on Saturday until encountering a most unusual obstacle. Someone actually threw a shoe onto the track from the infield, and Patrick, who led 20 laps and was leading at the time, ran into it.

Patrick knew immediately that her steering was off, but her problems didn’t truly set in until she broke an axle later in the race.

“How disappointing! What can I say?” Patrick said after the race, according to the Associated Press. “We’ve got to get some luck sometime. At the end of the day, I just can’t believe how unlucky we’ve been. It’s got to come.”

Patrick finished 27th while Justin Allgaier claimed victory. But a shoe is what threw her off? A shoe? Seriously? I’m just glad she managed to avoid the banana peels and Koopa shells.

The 96th annual Indy 500 may be hours away from coming to a close, but according to the official IndyCar website a winner has already been crowned. As you can see from the screenshot above that was taken from IndyCar.com, a photo of Danica Patrick ran on the website Sunday morning before the race began with a caption below it that read, “wins 96th running of the Indy 500.” That has to be the easiest accomplishment Danica has ever reached in her racing career.

It’s a storyline IndyCar racing could only dream of, but someone needs to edit these headlines a bit more carefully. Not only has the Indy 500 yet to conclude, but Patrick isn’t even taking part. She’s racing in NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. Try wrapping your brain around that one.

UPDATE: Shockingly, Danica did not drop out of the Coca-Cola 600 and make her way to the Indy 500 in time for the IndyCar.com headline to be validated. Dario Franchitti wound up winning his third Indy 500.