For half a decade, Danica Patrick balanced the demands of elite motorsports with a romance that played out in the same garages and victory lanes. Racing against a romantic partner in professional sports is a tightrope walk few athletes ever experience—one Patrick once navigated with grit and grace.
Her relationship with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. unfolded against a backdrop of record-breaking runs. The duo’s romance sparked in 2012, mere months before Patrick entered her debut NASCAR Cup Series season. What followed was a relationship scrutinized under the glare of headlines.
Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s High-Stakes Relationship Drama
Competing against Stenhouse Jr. “every weekend” wasn’t entirely new for Patrick—the pair had raced each other before their romance began. But the stakes shifted once they became a couple.
“You don’t want to go home to the ‘Why’d you crash me’ thing, which we both have done, unfortunately. Not on purpose, but cutting it too close,” Patrick admitted in a 2014 ABC News interview.
“Dishing it out on the track, that’s the problem,” she added, talking about the occasional “trash talk” that the couple used to throw at each other.
The 2013 season intensified their personal and professional collision course. Patrick’s landmark Daytona 500 pole position, a first for any woman, and her eighth-place finish there initially overshadowed Stenhouse’s campaign.
But his resilience paid off: Three top-10 finishes, including a podium at Talladega the same year, sealed his Rookie of the Year award despite Patrick’s historic qualifying speed of 196.434 mph.
Off the track, they avoided discussing racing to preserve their relationship. Stenhouse later revealed they limited conversations to car performance, never broaching the rookie standings.
Patrick’s Post-NASCAR Career and Transformations After Split With Stenhouse
Patrick and Stenhouse split in 2017 after five years together, a decision confirmed days after he attended the NASCAR Cup Series awards ceremony solo in November 2017. Though their split in 2017 drew headlines, both drivers accelerated forward.
Stenhouse captured his first Cup Series win at Talladega’s spring race in the same year. Patrick, meanwhile, shifted gears, closing her NASCAR career with the 2018 Daytona 500 before pivoting to wine ventures and podcasting. Their diverging paths proved that even faded love stories leave tire marks on a sport’s history.
After Stenhouse and another heartbreak from NFL star Aaron Rodgers in 2020, Patrick still remains hopeful. “Danica has felt the slings and arrows that come with her trying to find her one and only, but she still believes he’s out there,” a source told the Life & Style magazine last year.
“Despite her heartbreaks, she still practices positive thinking when it comes to romance!”
Now 43, Patrick has moved on to new ventures and relationships. After brief romances with Rodgers and entrepreneur Carter Comstock, she hinted at a fresh chapter in September 2024 with Instagram photos of a mystery man at the Burning Man event.