Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

I am a Danica fan through and through – forget all the negativity and in many cases, sexism. Considering it’s her first Sprint Cup season, I think she’s done okay, whether male or female.

Things were looking up for Danica Patrick at Ponoco as she managed to mix it up within the cars running in the teens. However, it all went wrong and the Pocono race probably wasn’t discussed in the Danica/Stenhouse household as both suffered disappointing results.  They certainly wouldn’t have cuddled up together to catch the highlights.

Their weekend all started to fall apart when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crashed on the first lap after Juan Pablo Montoya hit him going into Turn One – both ended up in the wall. After driving well and pulling off some great moves, Patrick then lost control of her car and caused a four-car wreck.

“I was just thinking to myself on that pace lap that before we went green, I was kind of hoping everyone would stay in line since we haven’t had much track time this weekend,” Stenhouse told Sporting News. “It didn’t play out like that though.”

Not only did the NASCAR couple suffer crashes, but after Stenhouse returned to the track following repairs, he ended up just in front of his girlfriend Patrick.

It was a real shame as after all the hype surrounding the comments Kyle Petty made about her inability to race, Patrick put in a solid performance until taking out Jeff Burton, Travis Kvapil and Paul Menard. After the race, Go Daddy! crew chief Tony Gibson put his arm around Patrick in the garage, as the mangled No. 10 Chevrolet sat nearby.

Maybe next time, Danica, next time …

James Harris is a NASCAR writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow or Like him at GarglingGas