Danica Patrick ARCA Race Daytona Debut: He Avoids Disasters in Her Debut and Wins Praise (Video)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (By KAREN CROUSE, New York Times) – The crowd around Danica Patrick swelled as she walked toward her trailer Saturday night after finishing sixth in her stock-car debut behind Bobby Gerhart, a six-time winner here.
Although five racers beat Patrick to the finish line at the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, an ARCA Series event in Nascar’s minor leagues at Daytona International Speedway, none won more respect.
Patrick, the first woman to win an IndyCar race, kept her cool in a crash-marred race, maneuvering her GoDaddy.com Chevrolet around dust-ups as if she had been driving stock cars for several years rather than several weeks. One of six women to start the race, she was the first of the three who finished. Alli Owens, who won the outside pole last year, was third late in the race, but hit an oil slick, spun out and slipped to 23rd.
On the 54th lap of the 80-lap race, Patrick was involved in a mishap that precipitated the day’s fifth yellow flag. Running on the inside, she was pinched off the track by Nelson Piquet while coming off a turn. Patrick’s car spun and crossed the start-finish line heading in the wrong direction. But she managed to stay clear of the other drivers and straighten her car out.
She worked her way up from 29th to eighth and then, in the final laps, pulled outside and passed two cars.
“I felt pretty good,” Patrick said, adding, “And then at the end I was running eighth and I thought, ‘What the heck?’ so I pulled out of the line and ran high.”
Patrick was praised for the way she handled the conditions in general, and specifically the collision with Piquet’s ESP Toyota. On the telecast, Darrell Waltrip, the 1989 Daytona 500 winner, said, “I don’t think anybody can say she can’t drive a stock car.”
Patrick did nothing on the track to dispel the notion that she will enter next Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona, a decision she will reveal on Monday. She said earlier in the week that her decision would not be based on her final placing.
“It’s going to be more off the feeling that I have,” she said, “and how little mistakes I make and how comfortable I was with the different situations.”
Starting in the sixth row alongside Frank Kimmel, a nine-time ARCA champion, Patrick ran as high as fifth before her spinout. She handled a loose car and passed people on the outside like a seasoned pro. It was only two months ago that she began a crash course on the basics of driving a stock car, starting with basic terminology, from her crew chief, Tony Eury Jr.
“I learned a lot and I had so much fun in a race car today,” Patrick said. “So I can’t wait to do it again.”
The ARCA race was part of a Speedway tripleheader that started with pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 and concluded with the Budweiser Shootout, a Sprint Cup Series exhibition race.
The Hendrick Motorsports teammates Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned spots in the front row for next weekend’s race. At 51, Martin became the oldest pole sitter in the Daytona 500’s history, with a lap of 191.188 miles per hour during the morning qualifying.
It was the first time in 26 tries that Martin has won the pole for Nascar season-opening race, but he had no illusions about his place on the day’s marquee.
“I’m still under the radar compared to Danica,” he said, adding, “That’s cool.”
A few hours before the race, Patrick appeared at a news conference for Hot Wheels, one of her sponsors, which will unveil a toy car later in the year — the “Danicar” — that Patrick designed. Asked what her favorite Hot Wheel was as a child, Patrick said, “I played with Barbies mostly.”
After the race, Gerhart watched a sea of people pass his trailer and said, “I would have thought they were coming to me, but it didn’t work out that way.”
He was smiling as he spoke. “I’m glad she was here, really,” he said.
Watch Youtube Video: Danica Patrick ARCA Practice Notes Daytona 2010
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