Danica Patrick Shows Gruesome Burns From Hot Water Incident

The 42-year-old former NASCAR driver shared a series of shocking photos on Sunday, December 1, revealing the aftermath of what appeared to be a scalding hot water burn.

Danica Patrick documented her recovery from a painful coffee burn with a series of Instagram updates, offering an unfiltered look at the injury.

“Day 1 coffee burn,” the 42-year-old former NASCAR driver wrote alongside a photo of her burned left thigh, adding “Starbucks [middle finger emoji].”

The image showed a circular burn surrounded by significant redness. Patrick also shared her frustration about the incident, asking, “Anyone else think their hot water is way the hell too hot?”

By the third day, Patrick posted another photo of the burn, revealing an intense red circle with signs of scarring around the injury. “Day 3,” she captioned the image, which also featured a meme of Kristen Wiig’s Target Lady character from “Saturday Night Live” looking on in disapproval.

Danica Patrick shared a final update on her coffee burn recovery, posting an image of the injury covered with a large bandage. “Cute, might delete later,” the former race car driver captioned the photo on Instagram.

Starbucks has been facing a challenging period, with global sales declining by 7% between July and September 2024, according to a BBC report. The drop was especially severe in China, where sales fell by 14% during the same timeframe.

Former CEO Laxman Narasimhan attempted to revive the company by introducing new menu items, such as boba drinks and an egg sandwich with pesto, but his efforts were cut short as he was replaced earlier this summer. The new CEO, Brian Niccol, has pledged to “fundamentally change” the company to address its struggles.

Danica Patrick’s coffee burn appears to be on the mend, though she shared that she still needs to keep it bandaged after a few days.

While the former NASCAR and IndyCar driver’s burn incident has drawn attention, she’s also been making waves on social media for her increasingly outspoken views on political topics. “I love this country, and I have lived in other places. I believe when people of different opinions speak face to face, we realize we are more similar than different,” Patrick shared in a recent statement.

She admitted feeling conflicted about addressing politics publicly. “I don’t believe everything anyone says. I have been very torn over the years if I should give a (crap) about politics or just live the life I want as an example. I have been doing the latter,” she said.

Patrick noted the strong reactions to her comments, adding, “The reaction today is definitely interesting… since all I said was, I love this country.”

Dubbed the “Danica Double,” Patrick revealed six years ago that her final races would be the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500, marking the end of her storied career. “It wasn’t in my heart anymore. What I love about racing was that ability to progress and get better and finish better and better and ultimately win. And I just felt like that was becoming less and less something that was in my control,” Patrick said at the time.

Since retiring from racing in 2018, Patrick has kept busy, most recently serving as an on-air host for Sky Sports’ Formula 1 coverage in the UK. “I am now nocturnal after that schedule but we had a lot of fun!!!!!” she wrote on Instagram on November 25 after covering the F1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas. “@maxverstappen1 is now 4-time champ…. In a row!”

As part of her work with Sky Sports, Patrick took her role to new heights—literally. She celebrated the Las Vegas race by skydiving, sharing the adrenaline-filled moment with fans. “This was a race opener!!!” she captioned a video of the jump on Instagram.

Driven by her growing interest in wellness, Danica Patrick invested in Beam, a CBD-focused wellness company, in 2020. As part of a $5 million seed investment, beam represented a shift from her previous association with GoDaddy! during her racing career.