Danica Patrick's struggles on the race track continued this weekend after the NASCAR rookie finished 31st at the STP 400 in Kansas Speedway event.

A piece of trash reportedly blocked the radiator of her vehicle, causing it to overheat. Patrick, who was inside the top 30 at the time, decided to make a pit stop to clean out her grille.

"The trash on the grille was what really hurt us today," Patrick said in a press conference after the race. "The temps went way high, and we had to pit to pull it off. That put us two laps down. It's disappointing because I think we could have had a much better finish with the Go Daddy Chevy, but it's one of those things that's out of our control."

Click here to read about the belt buckle Patrick won after helping her fellow driver boyfriend obtain 10,000 Twitter followers.

The piece of trash wasn't the only thing Patrick blamed for her poor performance however. The rookie also accused fellow driver David Gilliland of trying to take Patrick out of the race, something he has done, according to Patrick, on multiple occasions.

"He tries to take me out every time," said Patrick at the press conference. "Tell his spotter that I'm coming after him if he does it again. In fact I might just do it right now."

Gilliland didn't knock Patrick out of the race and there wasn't an incident after Patrick was done talking. Gilliland did respond to Patrick's threat however through his PR man.

"Shut up and race," said Gilliland according to Sporting News.

Patrick is currently in 25th place in the Sprint Cup standings with 154-points, behind leader Jimmie Johnson who is 157-points ahead of the rookie.

Click here to read about Jimmie Johnson's response after being accused of "ratting out" team Penske earlier this month.

The next scheduled race is the Toyota Owners 400 on April 27 at Richmond International Raceway.

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