Danica Patrick, at Las Vegas, remembers Dan Wheldon
Reporting from Las Vegas -- Danica Patrick returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the first time since October’s IndyCar race in which fellow driver Dan Wheldon was killed.
A former IndyCar driver now competing full-time in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, Patrick told a press conference Friday that “there won’t be a time that I come to Las Vegas that I won’t think about Dan.”
Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, died of head injuries suffered in a fiery, 15-car crash in IndyCar’s season finale on the 1.5-mile oval. Patrick’s car narrowly missed the start of the chain-reaction crash.
Preparing for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide race, Patrick said she was able to block out Wheldon’s death while in her race car but that it was more difficult as she walked the speedway’s grounds.
“Our job is to drive the race car, and we need to be able to do that with our whole heart and mind, so I went out there and drove just like any other day,” she said.
But outside the car, Patrick said, being at the track “reminds me so much of being here for the IndyCar weekend.”
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