”Give me my money back,” Danica Patrick said Friday at Fontana.

Patrick is among several drivers who have been fined for on-track shenanigans seemingly less egregious than the scrape between Dillon and Custer.

Dillon deliberately ran into Custer’s Ford while under caution during the Xfinity race at Phoenix last weekend. Dillon was responding in anger after Custer made contact with him earlier, spinning him into contact with the wall.

Custer and Dillon met with NASCAR officials on Friday morning, and the matter is apparently closed with apologies and regrets on both sides.

”It went really good,” Custer said of the meeting. ”We both have things that we wish we would have done different in the moment, but it is what it is, and we’ll just try to move on from it.”

Patrick was among the drivers who were surprised and confused by NASCAR’s decision, recalling her own fine for a disagreement with Kasey Kahne last year at Fontana. She also got fined in 2015 for retaliation against David Gilliland after trouble at Martinsville.

While concerned about NASCAR’s apparently nebulous justice, Patrick also has a bigger concern: Why is NASCAR getting mad about the stuff that draws fans and attention to the sport in the first place?

”I think NASCAR makes a really big mistake of fining for some stuff, especially something that happens in the car, because it makes for good TV,” Patrick said. ”Just like fights and all that stuff. We can handle it. I think it’s a mistake. I might be speaking too much, but I’ve been fined a few times, and I think that it makes for good TV, and I think that we handle it out on the track ourselves.”

Dillon and Custer are the second pair of drivers to recently get away from a scrape with no bigger penalty than a stern talking-to, perhaps signaling a new standard of punishment for the new season.

The teams of Kyle Busch and Joey Logano came to actual blows during a post-race scuffle in Las Vegas two weeks ago, yet they were only forced to speak to NASCAR officials.

Patrick doesn’t disagree with the apparent new standards of discipline, but she also would like to know why fines are levied in the first place. The money collected from fines goes to the NASCAR Foundation and its various charitable ventures.

”I mean, what does that really do?” Patrick asked. ”I’m not going to not go on vacation. I would actually rather know what it did. I would actually love to see the playground that got built for it, or homeless people that got food. I would like to see actually what the money does, because it’s supposed to go to charity, right? So what does it really do? I would like to see that.”

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In an attempt to spice up qualifying, pit road speeds that are strictly enforced in races as a safety measure will be lifted for Friday night’s three-lap trip around Charlotte Motor Speedway that includes a mandatory four-time stop.

Greg Biffle anticipates cars will come down pit road in excess of 100 mph — well over the 45 mph used in races — with drivers that push the limit losing control and ending up in the infield grass.

“Practice is the thing to watch, not the real qualifying,” the Roush Fenway Racing driver said during an appearance Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “The thing is, you don’t know [what will happen] until you try it.

“It’s like, ‘Hey, can you make it from the balcony into the pool without hitting the pool deck?’ There’s one way to figure it out. You can do all the calculating you want, but you’ve just got to try it.”

Another tweak announced Wednesday will allow the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote from the Showdown to advance into the main event without being on the lead lap as long as the car is in “raceable” condition as determined by Sprint Cup Series director John Darby.

Some have dubbed that the “Danica Patrick Rule,” noting that the popular Stewart-Haas Racing driver could benefit.

Patrick has finished on the lead lap in only two of 11 races this season.

“I don’t need to say any names,” David Ragan said when asked if the rule was made for any driver in particular. “We can all assume and make pretty good guesses. But there’s usually good reasons for making any rule change.”

Ragan doesn’t like the rule, even though officials said prior to last season the winner of the fan vote didn’t have to be on the lead lap.

“I don’t think that’s right,” said Ragan, who earned his way into the All-Star race with a surprise victory at Talladega Superspeedway. “You need to be competitive. It’s a contradicting rule. So you can’t be torn up and get in, but if you’re slow and not on the lead lap, why should you be in the All-Star race? In my opinion, that’s not a good rule for the intent of the All-Star race.

“The All-Star race is supposed to be about the best of the best.”

That will be the case in qualifying, where it will take skill to get on and off pit road at a higher than normal speed.

“Heck, we had trouble sliding through our pit box going 45 mph, so I can only imagine,” Ragan said. “Watch out Kurt Busch. I know he’s going to be coming down hard.”

Pit road limits have been set since 1991, the year after a Ricky Rudd’s car spun 180 degrees on pit road in Atlanta and slammed into Bill Elliott’s car. Elliott’s tire changer, Mike Rich, died after being caught in between the cars.

Other cars will not be on pit road during All-Star qualifying, and crew members will not be allowed to come over the wall until the car is stopped, which is not the case in a race.

“We’ll do that only for qualifying and only for the All-Star race because we can control the environment and it’ll be very clean down there,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “It’s an opportunity to do something on a weekend that is known for different stuff.”

The race will consist of four 20-lap segments and a 10-lap shootout with the winner collecting $1 million. Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith is offering another $1 million if a driver can win all five segments.

But qualifying could be the biggest spectacle.

“I can promise you guys are going to be off in the grass,” Biffle said. “I may be one of them.”

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The Sprint Cup rookie will drive for Turner Scott Motorsports, which also fielded her ride in the opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Patrick has only one start at Talladega, finishing 13th in last year’s Nationwide race for JR Motorsports.

“I’m thrilled that I get another chance to drive the No. 34,” Patrick siad in a release. “We had a great run going in Daytona, and I’m hoping we can pick up where we left off.”

Patrick is 26th in the Sprint Cup standings where she is battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for rookie of the year.

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But NASCAR’s most popular driver, according to the magazine’s estimates, saw his total earnings drop from $28.2 million the year before to $25.9 million this year.

The $25.9 million is based on a $12.9 million salary and winnings and $13 million in endorsements. In just salary/winnings, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson ranks No. 1 at $16.3 million. His total with endorsements is $23 million, ranking second to Earnhardt.

Danica Patrick, in her first full season in the Sprint Cup series, came in at No. 7 with an estimated worth of $12.9 million from salary, winnings and endorsements.

Reigning champion Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10 at $11.4 million — $10 million of that in salary/winnings.

The top 10, according to Forbes:

• Earnhardt Jr. — $25.9 million ($12.9 salary/winnings, $13M endorsements)
• Johnson — $23 million ($16.3M salary/winnings, $6.7M endorsements)
• Tony Stewart — $18.7 million ($12.7M salary/winnings, $6M endorsements)
• Jeff Gordon — $18.1 million ($12.6M salary/winnings, $5.5M endorsements)
• Carl Edwards — $13.7 million ($12.2M salary/winnings, $1.5M endorsements)
• Kevin Harvick — $13 million ($11.5M salary/winnings, $1.5M endorsements)
• Patrick — $12.9 million ($6.4M salary/winnings, $6.5M endorsements)
• Kyle Busch — $12.5 million ($9.6M salary/winnings, $2.9M endorsements)
• Kasey Kahne — $12 million ($11M salary/winnings, $1M endorsements)
• Keselowski — $11.4 million ($10M salary/winnings, $1.4M endorsements

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She wound up finishing 39th.

Patrick was on the lead lap, running 26th on Lap 185 of the 312-lap event, when the tire blew as she was coming out of Turn 4. At that point, she wasn’t able to turn the car, so it slammed into the SAFER barrier on the right front corner of the car.

Pieces of the car flew off the car as the back tires lifted off the ground. When the car bounced off the wall, David Ragan’s car slammed into the driver side door panel of Patrick’s car, shearing off most of the left-side sheet metal of Patrick’s Chevy as the hood flew off. Pieces of Patrick’s car were visible for more than 200 yards down the frontstretch.

“When you lose a tire out of the turn, those are tough because you hit [the wall] more straight on,” Patrick said. “That was a hard hit on both sides, but I’m fine. There was no real good warning. No vibrations.

“It just sucks to lose the points. We were having a steady day; not great, but making progress.”

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She became the first woman to lead a lap and was the highest female finisher in the famed Daytona 500. She led five laps and finished eighth. Janet Guthrie had the previous best finish for a woman in the Daytona 500 — 11th in 1980.

“You spend a lot of time thinking about what to do when the time comes,” Patrick said. “I kept asking up above what was working. You needed a hole, you needed people to help you out. I had a little bit of help today here and there, but I felt like if I was going to dive low, I had a feeling I was going to get freight-trained. … At the end of the day, it was a solid day.”

Patrick, the former IndyCar star and current Sprint Cup rookie, was in position to make a run at winner Jimmie Johnson in the final laps. But Patrick faded, dropping from third to eighth as more experienced drivers passed her.

“We stayed basically in the top 10 all day long,” she said. “You can’t really complain about that. It was nice.”

Patrick stayed out of trouble in a 200-lap race that saw several top contenders knocked out early.

Patrick started the “Great American Race” on the pole after becoming the first woman to qualify in the top spot. She failed to lead the first lap, though, falling behind three-time race winner Jeff Gordon.

Nonetheless, it was a big moment for NASCAR and Patrick.

But Patrick got her chance to be out front near the midway point. Fans were on their feet as Patrick beat Michael Waltrip to the front of the field on a restart. She led laps 90 and 91 and three more later before making a pit stop.

Patrick also made history as an IndyCar driver. She led 19 laps as a rookie in the 2005 Indianapolis 500, becoming the first woman to lead open-wheel racing’s premier event. She finished fourth.

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Patrick made history up front at the Daytona 500 Sunday, only to see Johnson make a late push ahead of her and reclaim his spot at the top of his sport.

It was the second Daytona 500 victory for Johnson, a five-time NASCAR champion who first won “The Great American Race” in 2006.

“There is no other way to start the season than to win the Daytona 500. I’m a very lucky man to have won it twice,” said Johnson, who won in his 400th career start. “I’m very honored to be on that trophy with all the greats that have ever been in our sport.”

It comes a year after Johnson completed only one lap in the race because of a wreck that also collected Patrick, and just three months after Johnson lost his bid for a sixth Sprint Cup title.

Patrick, the first woman to win the pole, also became the first woman to lead the race. She was running third on the last lap, but faded to eighth at the finish and admitted she’ll replay it over in her mind.

“I would imagine pretty much anyone would be kicking themselves about what they coulda, shoulda have done to give themselves an opportunity to win,” she said. “I think that’s what I was feeling today, was uncertainty as to how I was going to accomplish that.”

There were several multi-car crashes during the race, none approaching the magnitude of the wreck that injured more than two dozen fans a day earlier in the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the same track. Daytona International Speedway workers were up until 2 a.m repairing the fence that was damaged in the accident, and track officials offered Sunday morning to move any fans who felt uneasy sitting too close to the track.

Several drivers said the accident and concern for the fans stuck with them overnight and into Sunday morning, and Johnson was quick to send his thoughts in Victory Lane.

“Me personally, I was just really waiting to get the news on how everybody was, how all the fans were overnight, just hoping that things were going to improve … was not really ready to proceed until you had some confirmation that things were looking more positive,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was involved in Saturday’s accident but refocused and finished second to Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

The race itself, the debut for NASCAR’s new Gen-6 car, was quite similar to all the other Cup races during Speedweeks in that the cars seemed to line up in a single-file parade along the top groove of the track. It made the 55th running of the Daytona 500 relatively uneventful.

When the race was on the line, Johnson took off.

The driver known as “Five-Time” raced past defending NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski on the final restart and pulled out to a sizable lead that nobody challenged over the final six laps.

“We have a hard time finishing these races. Boy, to run 1-2, man, what a day,” said Rick Hendrick, team owner for both Johnson and Earnhardt.

Mark Martin was third in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. Keselowski, who overcame two accidents earlier in the race, wound up fourth in Penske Racing’s new Ford. Ryan Newman was fifth in a Chevy for Stewart-Haas Racing and was followed by Roush-Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle, who was second on the last lap but was shuffled back with Patrick to finish sixth.

Regan Smith was seventh for Phoenix Racing, while Patrick, Michael McDowell and J.J. Yeley rounded out the top 10.

Patrick was clearly disappointed with her finish, even though she ran inside the top-10 the entire race. When the race was on the line, though, she was schooled by Earnhardt, who made his move for the win.

Still, Patrick became the first woman in history to lead laps in the 500 when she passed Michael Waltrip on a restart on Lap 90. She stayed on the point for two laps, then was shuffled back to third. She ended up leading five laps, another groundbreaking moment for Patrick, who in 2005 as a rookie became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500.

Janet Guthrie was the first woman to lead laps at NASCAR’s top Cup Series, in 1977 at Ontario, where she led five laps under caution.

“Dale did a nice job and showed what happens when you plan it out, you drop back and get that momentum. You are able to go to the front,” Patrick said. “I think he taught me something. I’m sure I’ll watch the race and there will be other scenarios I see that can teach me, too.”

Earnhardt was impressed, nonetheless.

“She’s going to make a lot of history all year long. It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch her progress,” said Earnhardt Jr. “Every time I’ve seen her in a pretty hectic situation, she always really remained calm. She’s got a great level head. She’s a racer. She knows what’s coming. She’s smart about her decisions. She knew what to do today as far as track position and not taking risks. I enjoy racing with her.”

The field was weakened by an early nine-car accident that knocked out race favorite Kevin Harvick and sentimental favorite Tony Stewart.

Harvick had won two support races coming into the 500 to cement himself as the driver to beat, but the accident sent him home with a 42nd place finish.

Stewart, meanwhile, dropped to 0-for-15 in one of the few races the three-time NASCAR champion has never won.

“If I didn’t tell you I was heartbroken and disappointed, I’d be lying to you,” Stewart said.

That accident also took former winner Jamie McMurray, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kasey Kahne out of contention.

The next accident — involving nine cars — came 105 laps later and brought a thankful end to Speedweeks for Carl Edwards. He was caught in his fifth accident since testing last month, and this wreck collected six other Ford drivers.

The field suddenly had six Toyota drivers at the front as Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing drivers took control of the race. But JGR’s day blew up — literally — when the team was running 1-2-3 with Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch setting the pace.

Kenseth, who led a race-high 86 laps, went to pit road first with a engine problem, and Busch was right behind him with a blown engine. Busch was already in street clothes watching as Hamlin led the field.

“It’s a little devastating when you are running 1-2-3 like that,” Busch said.

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Harvick held off Greg Biffle over a four-lap sprint Thursday to win the first 150-mile Budweiser Duel. Harvick and Biffle also went 1-2 in last Saturday night’s exhibition race.

The starting field for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 is set by the results from the pair of 60-lap qualifiers.

Danica Patrick started on the pole for the first race and simply needed to keep her car intact to hang on to her front row starting spot in the Daytona 500. She raced a little at the start of the duel, then faded back in the field and wound up 17th out of 23 cars.

Denny Hamlin triggered a four-car accident with 7 laps remaining

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The question of whether Danica Patrick’s weight — or lack of it compared to fellow Sprint Cup competitors — gave her a competitive advantage in Sunday’s 500 qualifying came up on Wednesday. The simple answer is: maybe, but probably not.

According to the NASCAR rulebook, drivers who weigh less than 180 pounds have to add 10 pounds to their car for every 10 pounds down to 140. Therefore, the maximum penalty would be 40 pounds.

Patrick arrived at Daytona International Speedway weighing 110 pounds, according to her representatives. So theoretically, her car could have been 30 pounds lighter than the car driven by 150-pound Jeff Gordon, who qualified second.

Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, Patrick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammates who exceed 180 pounds, qualified fifth and fourth.

“There’s two thought processes,” series director John Darby said when asked whether a lighter driver could have an advantage. “One is the heavier driver will help compress the springs more and help pull the car down out of the air.

“The other school of thought is any time you can save weight, you’re saving weight. At the end of the day I don’t think it matters.”

This isn’t the first time Patrick’s weight has been an issue in racing. In 2005, Robby Gordon said Patrick had an unfair advantage for the Indianapolis 500 and said he would not compete in the event unless the field was equalized.

Gordon, a former open-wheel driver who also competed in NASCAR, contended Patrick had an advantage because all of the cars weighed the same and there were no adjustments made for a driver’s height.

“The lighter the car, the faster it goes,” Gordon said at the time. “Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds, and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier.

“I won’t race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away.”

At the time, the IndyCar had to weigh 1,525 pounds before the fuel and driver were added. In 2008, the league ruled the minimum weight would include the driver.

Patrick wasn’t happy.

“If someone’s going to take the hit, it’s going to be me,” she said at the time. “It’s disappointing the league decided to do that. In so many other sports, athletes don’t get penalized for being too strong or too tall or too fast.

“[It’s] just your God-given stature is being penalized. What am I going to do, though? It’s not my decision. That’s the people higher up [who] made their bed, and they’ve got to lay in it.”

In the Sprint Cup Series, the car must weigh 3,300 pounds based on a driver weighing 180, an adjustment from 200 last year. Where Patrick could gain an advantage is that the 40 pounds her team is required to add to the frame can be positioned at a lower center of gravity than the driver.

All of the weight must be added to the left side. The right side for all cars must be 1,620 pounds, according to NASCAR’s rulebook.

“What’s a shame is everyone is pointing at Danica going, ‘Oh, she’s 40 pounds light,'” Darby said. “But what about Mark Martin [125 pounds]? … There’s half of the field that doesn’t weigh more than horse jockeys anymore.”

Drivers don’t appear to be concerned. Jimmie Johnson said it’s no big deal. Matt Kenseth joked that if Patrick keeps going fast, they need to add a lot of weight “on the roof.”

“When you’re talking about Martinsville, yeah, you can talk about an advantage to being lighter,” Darby said. “Here, most of the cars are heavier than what they should be anyway.

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The spotlight is nothing new. But never has it been this bright before.

Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole Sunday, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any race in NASCAR’s premier circuit. It’s by far the biggest achievement of her stock-car career.

“I was brought up to be the fastest driver, not the fastest girl,” she said. “That was instilled in me from very young, from the beginning. Then I feel like thriving in those moments, where the pressure’s on, has also been a help for me. I also feel like I’ve been lucky in my career to be with good teams and have good people around me. I don’t think any of it would have been possible without that.

“For those reasons, I’ve been lucky enough to make history, be the first woman to do many things. I really just hope that I don’t stop doing that. We have a lot more history to make. We are excited to do it.”

Her latest stamp in the history books came with a lap at 196.434 mph around Daytona International Speedway. Patrick went out eighth in the qualifying session, then had to wait about two hours as 37 fellow drivers tried to take her spot.

Only four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon even came close to knocking her off. Gordon was the only other driver who topped 196 mph in qualifying. He locked up the other guaranteed spot in next week’s season-opening Daytona 500.

“It’s great to be a part of history with Danica being on the pole,” said Gordon, who joked that at least he was the fastest guy. “I think we all know how popular she is, what this will do for our sport. Congratulations to her. Proud to be on there with her.”

The rest of the field will be set in duel qualifying races Thursday.

However the lineup unfolds, all drivers will line up behind Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet SS.

And she knows her latest achievement will mean more public relations work.

The routine is nothing new for Patrick, who was the first woman to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500. She finished third in 2009, the highest finish in that illustrious race for a woman. And she became the only woman to win an IndyCar race when she did it in Japan in 2008.

Hardly anyone witnessed that victory.

Leading the field to the green flag in NASCAR’s showcase event should be must-watch television.

“That’s a huge accomplishment,” team owner and fellow driver Tony Stewart said. “It’s not like it’s been 15 or 20 years she’s been trying to do this. It’s her second trip to Daytona here in a Cup car. She’s made history in the sport. That’s stuff that we’re proud of being a part of with her. It’s something she should have a huge amount of pride in.

“It’s never been done. There’s only one person that can be the first to do anything. Doesn’t matter how many do it after you do, accomplish that same goal. The first one that does always has that little bit more significance to it because you were the first.”

Even before her fast lap Sunday, Patrick was the talk of Speedweeks. Not only did she open up about her budding romance with fellow Sprint Cup rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but she was considered the front-runner for the pole after leading practice sessions Saturday.

And she didn’t disappoint.

She kept her car at or near the bottom of the famed track and gained ground on the straightaways, showing lots of power from a Hendrick Motorsports engine.

“It’s easy to come down here in your first or second year as a driver and clip the apron trying to run too tight a line or do something and scrub speed off,” Stewart said. “That’s something she did an awesome job. Watching her lap, she runs so smooth. … She did her job behind the wheel, for sure.”

The result surely felt good for Patrick, especially considering the former IndyCar driver has mostly struggled in three NASCAR seasons. Her best finish in 10 Cup races is 17th, and she has one top-five in 58 starts in the second-tier Nationwide Series.

She raced part-time in 2010 and 2011 while still driving a full IndyCar slate. She switched solely to stock cars last season and finished 10th in the Nationwide standings.

She made the jump to Sprint Cup this season and will battle Stenhouse for Rookie of the Year honors.

Starting out front in an unpredictable, 500-mile race doesn’t guarantee any sort of result, but securing the pole will put her in the limelight for at least the rest of the week.

She also won the pole at Daytona for last year’s Nationwide race.

This is considerably bigger.

The previous highest female qualifier in a Cup race was Janet Guthrie. She started ninth at Bristol and Talladega in 1977.

“It’s obviously a history-making event that will last a long, long time,” Guthrie said, praising Patrick’s feat. “It’s a different era, of course. Different times. I can’t imagine what I would do with a spotter or somebody telling me how to drive. It’s rather a different sport now. Back then, there was a much greater difference from the front of the field to the back.”

Guthrie received a lukewarm reception from fellow drivers back then.

Patrick was much more welcomed, undoubtedly because of her background and popularity.

She’s comfortable being in the spotlight, evidenced by her racing career, her television commercials and her sudden openness about her personal life.

“I think when pressure’s on and when the spotlight’s on, I feel like it ultimately ends up becoming some of my better moments and my better races and better results,” Patrick said. “I just understand that if you put the hard work in before you go out there that you can have a little peace and a little peace of mind knowing that you’ve done everything you can and just let it happen.”

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