Danica Patrick spins, makes impressive save, finishes sixth in stock-car debut
Danica Patrick finished sixth in her stock-car debut at Daytona. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Illustrated
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick smiled and said she had a lot of fun in her stock-car debut Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway but wasn’t ready to say she had enough fun and learned enough to make her NASCAR debut next week.
Patrick finished sixth in the Automobile Racing Club of America Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200. The 27-year-old IndyCar Series star remained true to her word that she wouldn’t make a decision until Monday about whether to run the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Feb. 13 at Daytona.
If the JR Motorsports driver opts to skip the race next week, she would start a 12-race Nationwide schedule Feb. 20 at Auto Club Speedway in California. If Patrick doesn’t run at Daytona, JR Motorsports driver Kelly Bires will be behind the wheel of the No. 7 car.
“We haven’t made that decision yet,” Patrick said about the Nationwide race next week. “I have a lot to learn, so we’ll have to decide by Monday. … I learned what it feels like. I learned what it feels like to hit people. I learned what it’s like to hit people from the side.
“I hit from all around. I had a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to do it again.”
Patrick not only hit and got hit, she spun on the track but was able to keep her car off the wall and sped through the infield grass.
“I don’t know,” said team co-owner and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. about next week. “I’ll call her tomorrow to see what she thinks. The cars are ready if that’s what she wants to do. If not, then we’ll come down with somebody else. But it would a real pleasure for her to do it.”
The most impressive part of Patrick’s night was her save to keep her car from crashing.
“That was awesome,” Eury Jr. said. “That’s how you tell if you have a real race-car driver, right there, when they start spinning out and saving them. I think Jimmie Johnson has proven that over the years.
“She was pretty calm. It was just a matter of getting her slowed down so she didn’t explode a tire and blow the fenders off and make her day a little worse.”
Patrick qualified 12th and was running in the top 10 despite having some contact on pit road when a driver hit her from behind. Her spin occurred on lap 54 of the 80-lap race when she made contact with former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr.
“The car doesn’t look very pretty, but it was fun,” Patrick said. “It’s not as much fun when the car starts sliding around, especially when everybody else looks like they’re in good shape. To be honest, I thought when I spun down the front straight, I took my hands off the wheel for a second and I was like, ‘I’m going to get majorly collected right here.’
“But there was nobody there. Tony [Eury] Jr. was in my ear, ‘Get back in it.’ So I got back in it and hit the throttle.”
With ARCA having a similar yellow-line rule as NASCAR, Patrick said she was just trying not to go below the yellow line.
“Everyone was slowing down, so I just followed the one ahead of me and the guy came down over the front of me and I just held to the yellow line,” Patrick said. “I took myself out, unfortunately. You can’t go over that yellow line. I felt, ‘Shoot, we’re not out of this, right? Why would we be out of it?’
“The guys did a good job working in the pits, getting it right.”
Patrick worked her way from 24th back into the top five. With about eight laps left, she tried to go to the high line, but few others went with her.
“I was pretty excited to go from last back to the top five,” Patrick said. “Then I jumped up high and I was like, ‘Whatever, there’s eight to go, who cares? Let’s see who is coming with me.’ The car felt pretty good. That was pretty fun.”
The toughest part was trying not to run into the back of cars in the draft.
“I was having to lift so much in the bottom when I was following people, but you want to stay tight, so you end up getting out of it a little bit aggressively, so you don’t take anyone out,” Patrick said. “I’m trying not to bump them in the middle of the corner.”
Eury Jr. said he told Patrick before the race that he thought she should stick to the bottom, but he added that the driver has a better feel for what’s going on and wasn’t upset that she tried the high line late in the race.
“I think she’s done great,” Eury Jr. said. “What can you say? For her first time being her, being in the draft like that, she had me pretty excited there at the end. She was just going to the high side, trying to make something happen.
“But we were sitting there 25th or something and she drove up to fifth, so that’s pretty impressive.”
The race was won by Bobby Gerhart. Richard Childress Racing Nationwide Series driver John Wes Townley finished third, while Phoenix Racing’s Nationwide driver James Buescher was fourth. Turner Motorsports Truck Series driver Ricky Carmichael was seventh. Jennifer Jo Cobb, who plans on running the entire Truck season, was 17th while RCR development driver Tim George Jr. was 19th.
Patrick and Cobb weren’t the only women in the field. Alli Owens was having a strong run going but a late wreck relegated her to 23rd, while Jill George was 31st, Leilani Munter was 39th and Milka Duno was 43rd.
Piquet, who is expected to run some Truck races this year, was 27th. Penske Racing development driver Dakoda Armstrong was 33rd.
