Danica Patrick crashes in her final Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS – Danica Patrick trudged out of the infield care center with her head down, mirrored sunglasses covering the disappointment in her eyes.

There was no hiding it in her voice.

"It was definitely not the way that I wanted it to end," she said softly.

The 36-year-old Patrick crashed 67 laps into the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, ending her racing career at the track that made her famous. She lost traction on a slippery surface, spun as she exited Turn 2 and then slammed into two walls before stopping. She finished 30th, her lowest spot in eight starts at "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

"Definitely not a great ending," she said. "But I kind of said before I came here that I feel like if it's a complete disaster — complete like as if not in the ballpark at all, look silly — then people might remember that. If I win, people will remember that.

"But probably anything in between might just be a little part of a big story, so I kind of feel like that's how it is."

She was running in the middle of the field when her Ed Carpenter Racing car spun sideways, hit the outside wall and then caromed across the track and into an inside barrier.

The final news conference of her racing career came with a hiccup. The television broadcast got piped over loudspeakers as she was trying to talk.

"Take my mike away," Patrick said, only half-joking. "I'll leave. I don't even want to be here because I'm pretty sad."

Helio Castroneves and Sebastien Bourdais each tried to make the most of a rare chance to pass in Sunday's race.

Both crashed.

On an unseasonably hot and humid day, four of IndyCar's top names left the season's biggest race the same way — with a trip to the speedway's infield track center following crashes. Defending champion Takuma Sato also crashed.