Danica wrecks in her Nationwide race debut

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick's day started at the front of the pack. It ended with another frustrating wreck.

After starting from the pole position in yesterday's Nationwide Series race -- her Nationwide debut -- at Daytona International Speedway, Patrick was caught in a crash when JR Motorsports teammate Cole Whitt nudged her rear bumper and sent her spinning into the wall.

Patrick vented her frustration on the radio with her team immediately after the wreck, then acknowledged after the race that she wanted an explanation. "I don't think it's ever great when teammates come together," Patrick said. "So we'll have to figure out what happened and move forward."

Only six of 43 cars made it unscathed to the finish line of the race. James Buescher was not driving one of those clean cars but he managed to dodge and weave his way through an 11-car accident on the last lap, stealing the victory and setting the stage for what's expected to be a wild Daytona 500.

Whitt said he didn't mean to wreck Patrick, saying the incident was a result of the bumper-to-bumper style of racing at Daytona.

"Yeah, I think we'll be fine," Whitt said. "I wouldn't expect her to be happy about it. I wouldn't be happy about it, either. I don't know why anyone would expect her to be like, 'Oh yeah, it's great.' We're teammates. We want our teams to win. That's why we're trying to push each other anyways. We want to get our team up front together."

Patrick, who eventually got back into the race after her crew made extensive repairs to her car in the garage area, finished 38th. She began the 300-mile event up front after becoming the first woman to win a NASCAR pole position since Shawna Robinson in 1994. She led at the start, spent the first part of the race in the top 10 before getting shuffled out of the draft and falling deeper in the field before the wreck. -- AP