Danica Patrick Receives Support from Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kevin Harvick Over Kyle Petty Comments

After Kyle Petty made some not-so-subtle comments about fellow NASCAR driver Danica Patrick's ability, other drivers are defending the woman her competitor called, "not a race car driver."

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. first gave his words of support Friday at a Kentucky Speedway, after Petty said that Patrick was a "marketing machine."

"I have to disagree with Kyle," NESN.com reported Earnhardt as saying on Monday. "I think she's a tough competitor. She works really hard at what she does and she has run some really good races. On every occasion, she's outrunning several guys on the circuit."

Earnhardt continued commending Patrick's skill, saying that her performance rendered Petty's comments not legitimate.

"If she was not able to compete or not able to run minimum speed or finishing in last place every week, I think you might be able to say Kyle has an argument," Earnhardt said. "But she's out there running competitively and running strong on several accounts."

The 31-year-old female NASCAR driver is known as being the most successful woman in American open-wheel racing's history.

Patrick's future teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing Kevin Harvick also backed his to-be fellow driver, pointing out the learning curve involved in the move from IndyCar to NASCAR.

"To drive them fast is something that is just not going to happen overnight," Harvick said. "I don't know that I would go as far as calling her not a racer because she's raced her whole life and I think on a continuous learning curve. She's obviously dedicated at what she does to try to get better and knows she has a lot of hurdles to overcome in a short amount of time."

Meanwhile, Kyle Petty responded to users on Twitter who weighed in on his thoughts on Patrick.

"I love how Danica called him out on his BS," one user said. "I gained some respect for that girl after that."

"That's funny," Petty tweeted back.