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Danica Patrick crashes out of Indy 500, gives emotional news conference

By Alex Butler
Danica Patrick crashes in turn two on lap 68 during the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. Photo by Larry Papke/UPI
Danica Patrick crashes in turn two on lap 68 during the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. Photo by Larry Papke/UPI | License Photo

May 28 (UPI) -- Racing pioneer Danica Patrick gave an emotional news conference after crashing out of the Indianapolis 500 and retiring from the sport.

Patrick lasted 68 laps Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis before putting her No. 13 GoDaddy Chevrolet into the wall in turn 2 and exiting the race.

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Patrick was not happy about the result of the race in her post-race news conference.

She said she "didn't really want to" come to the news conference before not answering the first question.

"Alright, let me just talk," she said.

"Definitely not a great ending. But I kind of said before I came here that I feel like if it's a compete disaster, complete ... as in not in the ball park at all and looks silly, then people might remember that. If I win, people will remember that. But probably anything in between is kinda a little part of a big story. So I kinda feel like that's how it is. You know?

"I'm appreciative for all the fans, for GoDaddy, for Ed Carpenter Racing for giving me a good car. Today was a tough day. A little bit of it was OK. A lot of it was ... it was tough to drive."

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An Indy 500 promotion played over Patrick's interview. She joked that it was like the Oscars when they play the music over an acceptance speech.

"I'll leave, I promise," Patrick said. "Like I don't really want to be here because I'm pretty sad.

"I'm for sure very grateful for everybody and for being able to finish it up like I wanted to. It still was a lot of great moments this month. A lot of great moments this year."

Patrick's boyfriend -- Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers -- attended Sunday's race. The 36-year-old race car driver became the first woman to win an IndyCar race when she claimed first place at the 2008 Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Montegi in Montegi, Japan.

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