Patrick still answering questions about wreck with Stenhouse

DOVER, Del. - The track was so hot at Friday's qualifying session for the FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway that some crews placed bags of ice on the rims of their cars to cool them down. Nearby, Danica Patrick tried to cool down questions about her wreck involving her boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse, on Sunday at Charlotte.

Patrick admitted Friday that she was upset with Stenhouse at the time, but she said Wednesday that the couple was fine and had moved on. Still, she endured many of the same questions at Dover, some of them bordering on personal.

What happened, she was asked. Was she mad after the race? Did she at least get treated to a nice dinner afterward? (She didn't. "I think I had half of a banana, a little chocolate protein shake, and two beers," Patrick said.)

Patrick said she could understand why people remained interested in the wreck, caused when Stenhouse moved up to create a three-wide formation, making space tight.

"I'm sure I would want to know how that all went down after the race, too," Patrick said. "We're an entertainment sport, so I get it."

Though Dover offered Patrick no reprieve from the questions, it also offers her a chance to put the accident in the past. A good showing here, at one of the country's more demanding tracks, could inject life into a rookie campaign in which Patrick ranks 30th in the Sprint Cup standings. She has just one top-10 finish.

She didn't help her cause Friday. Patrick placed 39th in qualifying at 153.381 m.p.h. Denny Hamlin will sit on the pole for the third time this season after clocking in at 157.978 m.p.h.

Dover's high-banked turns generate speeds uncommon for a mile-long track. In an interview with the Speed channel Friday, Ryan Newman compared the sensation of driving at Dover to being flushed in a toilet bowl.

"It's just big, and it's fast," Newman said. "It's a blast to drive it, not that it's a blast to be flushed in a toilet bowl."

Hamlin called the track conditions during qualifying "really bad." By midday Friday, high temperatures led to a black film of rubber along the turns, making an already demanding track even more slick and unpredictable.

Martin Truex Jr. said driving over the rubber patches during the race two years ago "was like hitting oil." Temperatures expected to be in the mid-80s could create the same effect Sunday.

Truex, who grew up in Mayetta, N.J., is the local favorite at Dover, and he placed second in qualifying at 157.798 m.p.h. In 2007, Truex captured his only Sprint Cup Series win at Dover. This time he comes into Dover hot, with five top-10 finishes in his last seven races. He has moved from 25th to ninth in the Sprint Cup standings over that span.

Truex said he considers Dover his home track. Before heading to the track, Truex raced go-carts in New Jersey on Thursday. Over Christmas, he said, he toured areas of the Shore damaged by Sandy, and he estimated his foundation has raised more than $150,000 in relief money.

Jimmie Johnson has been anything but cool at Dover in the past. He has won seven times at Dover, including last year's race, but a slight skid in the qualifying round erased what was the strongest performance in the practice session.

Johnson will start in the 24th position. The winner at Dover has come from outside the top 20 starting positions in only four of 86 Sprint Cup races.

At Dover International Speedway, Dover, Del.

Schedule:  Saturday, practice (TV: Speed, 10-11 a.m., 1-2 p.m.), Sunday, race, 1 p.m.

TV: Fox29, 12:30-4:30 p.m.).

Track: Oval, 1 mile.

Race distance: 400 miles, 400 laps.

 Next race: Party in the Poconos 400, June 9, Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pa.EndText