Danica Patrick’s assignment on Thursday wasn’t a particularly exciting one, but she accomplished it successfully.
As a result, the driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet SS will make history once again on Sunday as the first female driver to lead the field to green in NASCAR’s most important race, the Daytona 500.
To ensure that distinction, Patrick had to keep her pole-winning car intact during her Budweiser Duel 150-mile qualifying race on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. She did just that, dropping to the back after seven laps and coming home 17th.
“It’s not an exciting mission when you just have to bring it home,” Patrick said. “But it is for the Daytona 500, so you’ve got to keep that in mind. I learned that the outside (lane) is strong, and it carries a lot of good momentum.
“And then I learned that you need some friends. I also learned that you can’t be too tight (with respect to handling)… It was way too tight at the start, but we wanted to be conservative. We didn’t want to have any issues with the GoDaddy car.
“We wanted to make sure we’ve got it on that front row for Sunday.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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