Dating a co-worker can be tough no matter what field you're in, especially when your job involves driving a racecar.
Danica Patrick was involved in another on-track incident this weekend, this time with her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
The incident took place during the closing laps of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Shortly after pulling into the garage area after the race, Patrick quickly got out of her beat-up car and headed straight to the drivers' motorhome lot without talking to reporters.
"I heard my spotter (Brandon Benesch) say that the 14 (Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Tony Stewart) was below me on track and I didn't know the 17 (Stenhouse) was there on the high side of the track," Patrick said later, in comments distributed by the team, according to USA Today.
"My spotter took the blame on that one. I just didn't know Ricky was up there and I obviously don't want to hit his car or anyone else with 10 laps to go. I talked with Ricky afterward and we're fine. It's just a tough deal. We finished 19th even with the damage so it was a decent run. We just had a tight car all day."
Stenhouse and Patrick got tangled up with just 10 laps to go, which caused Patrick's car to spin. She radioed to her crew members "The 17 hit me," choosing to refer to her boyfriend's car number instead of his name, as most drivers do.
Replays of the incident failed to show what happened exactly.
The incident caused a restart with just six laps left in the race, with former Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski in the lead after passing Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson.
Keselowski went on to win the race, securing a spot in the second round of NASCAR's reconfigured season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup.
The Chase now features multiple elimination rounds over the last 10 races of the season.
Stenhouse finished 17th, and neither driver qualified for the 16-driver Chase.
This isn't the first time the love birds have been involved in an on-track incident. Back in July 2013, Patrick apologized for causing a multi-car wreck that took out Stenhouse. The two also tangled in May 2013 at Charlotte, an incident that both of them said took a little time for them to get past.
Patrick and Stenhouse went public with their relationship at the beginning of the 2013 NASCAR season.
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