Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick Leads Lap, Makes History At Daytona

Danica Patrick did something on Saturday that no other woman has ever done in history.

On lap 30 of the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona, Danica Patrick crossed the start/finish line in first place, with the help of Clint Bowyer. In doing so, she became the first woman to ever lead a lap in NASCAR-sanctioned competition at Daytona.

Patrick would only lead the one lap, and being unable to fully figure out the two-car tango quickly caused her to fall deep in the lead pack and eventually off the lead lap. ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

Danica Patrick Scores Career-Best NASCAR Finish In Daytona Nationwide Race

by Jeff Gluck

Danica Patrick recorded her career-best finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series on Saturday at Daytona International Raceway, finishing 14th and leading a lap under green.

Here are some of her comments after the race:

On the race and using the two-car draft:

It was pretty fun. ... It was really about pushing each other. I pushed a little bit at the end – a little too late. It was really cool when Clint (Bowyer) was pushing me, and they told me I led a lap, at least, so that was really cool. But that just showed me (the two-car draft) is what you gotta do and that's what they did up front all day.

On why she didn't push more often in the draft:

I tried to push at the very, very beginning on the start. And it didn't really work. Like I kind of kept bouncing off of them. ... At the end there when it was the most chaotic, I was OK to push. You can't really see, though. So that's the problem, and it was the worst time to try it, really. ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

Nationwide Insurance Adds Danica Patrick to You and Me Both Junior Team

Move over ‘You and Me Both Junior’ as there is a new girl on the team. Nationwide Insurance announced today that Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for JR Motorsports, will join her boss and the Earnhardt family as part of the Nationwide promotion team.

Patrick, who is also a Nationwide customer as are Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt, met with the media at Daytona International Speedway to announce the new partnership.

“We are thrilled to be here to talk today about our relationship with JR Motorsports,” Jennifer Hanley, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Nationwide, said. “We have been in a relationship from a motor sports perspective for four years.” ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

Predictions: Danica Patrick and Travis Pastrana racing in NASCAR in 2011?

Welcome readers, as the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series season is on the horizon, today in part-three of my prediction series, I’m discussing two well known Motorsports drivers that have decided to embark on NASCAR in the next stage of their racing careers, namely Danica Patrick and Travis Pastrana.

1. Danica Patrick. Now I realize and understand that there are a lot of NASCAR fans that don’t care for Danica Patrick being in NASCAR and driving for a well known ride namely at JR Motorsports. Nor care for her switching between the IRL IndyCar Series and NASCAR like she is.

But for me, a motorsports fan that has watched Danica Patrick since her day’s in the Toyota Atlantics Series and while I do believe that Patrick should be picking a series and run full-time in it whether it’s the IRL IndyCar Series or NASCAR so she can succeed in it, she did learn a few thing in 2010 as she had a few good runs and made headlines everywhere she went in NASCAR especially when she taught a driver at Phoenix that art of a simple payback pass. ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

Danica Patrick briefly leads Nationwide race, finishes NASCAR career-high 14th

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For a few laps, at least, Danica Patrick's day was going better than most people imagined: She was racing for the lead at Daytona International Speedway.

Patrick briefly led Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide race at Daytona, but she couldn't stay there. Still relatively inexperienced in stock car racing, Patrick struggled when it was her turn to be the pushing car in the two-car style of drafting that has dominated Daytona Speedweeks.

Unable to consistently team up with a drafting partner, she faded in the middle of the race and finished 14th — the best finish of the IndyCar series regular's brief Nationwide career.

"I pushed a little bit at the end, a little too late," Patrick said. "But it was really cool when Clint (Bowyer) was pushing me and they told me that I did lead a lap, at least. That was really cool. But that just showed me that that's what you've got to do, and that's what they were doing up front today." ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

Danica Patrick starts fourth after career-best qualifying effort

Against formidable competition, Patrick qualified fourth for Saturday’s Drive4COPD 300 Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. That’s one spot better than she ran during time trials for the Nationwide season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Patrick finished 19th in the Homestead race, posting the first top-20 of her NASCAR career. At Daytona, she’ll take the green flag at approximately 1:32 p.m. with her sights firmly fixed on the top 10.

Though Clint Bowyer won the pole for Saturday’s race, and though Patrick’s car owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will start third beside Patrick, most eyes will be focused on the green No. 7 GoDaddy.com car when the green flag flies. ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

Stewart takes narrow Daytona Nationwide win, Danica Patrick finishes lap down

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart wins by a hair, while Dale Jr. can't seem to get his pit right at Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, helped by a push from Landon Cassill, zoomed past Clint Bowyer to win the Drive4COPD 300. The win was Stewart’s fourth consecutive Nationwide Series win at Daytona International Speedway.

Smoke had only a fraction of a second to spare, with 0.007 seconds between his car and the second-place Bowyer. Cassill finished third while Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the line in fourth. Earnhardt Jr. had pushed Bowyer for six laps after a restart on lap 115. ( Read Danica Patrick more... )

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