NASCAR Fans And Driver Pile On 'Clueless' Female Racer After Race

Saturday's Nationwide Cup race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway was loaded down with drama after Kevin Harvick blamed his late-in-the-race second place finish to Brad Keselowski on a rookie driver.

Keselowski passed Harvick with about 21 laps to go in the 200-lap race when Harvick got caught up in traffic with rookie Amber Cope, who was 30 laps down. During the jam, Keselowski slipped in front.

Harvick and NASCAR fans took to Twitter to lambast the driver, who is one of a pair of cosmetologist twins who have been trying to work their way into racing with mostly weak results.

The tone of the critiques reflected Cope's gender and appearance as much as they did her evident lack of skill.

After the race ended, Harvick didn't mince words about being blocked from passing by Cope.

"Every time you come to her, she doesn't know whether she's going high or low," Harvick said in an interview after the race. "It's somebody who shouldn't be on the race track and has no clue what they're doing in a racecar. She wants to be Danica Patrick but she can't hold her helmet."

Ouch.

The 28-year-old Cope competes with her twin sister, Angela. They're the nieces of Derrike Cope, who won the Daytona 500 in 1990. Cope's only other race in the Nationwide series was in May at the Iowa Speedway where she was sent off the track on the 203rd lap of the 250-lap race for driving too slowly, the AP says.

Both fans and drivers took to Twitter to vent over the situation, suggesting that the only pole they'll ever take is in a strip club. Here's the highlight reel below.

[View the story "Drama between Nationwide drivers after FW Webb 200" on Storify]

What do you think? Was Cope in the wrong? Are NASCAR fans reacting this way because they're women or because they're terrible?