Danica Patrick Fear Not the Concrete

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

Danica Patrick has raced on concrete surfaces many times during her career, having done so in IZOD IndyCar Series, NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.

And, for the fourth and final time in 2013, Patrick and the rest of the Sprint Cup Series drivers will take to the concrete for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

Dover’s 24-degree banking in the turns and 9 degrees on the straightaways, and being surrounded by 42 other Sprint Cup machines each producing nearly 900 horsepower, equate to one challenging race for any driver.

Fortunately for Patrick, who drives the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), concrete has been good to her, at times.

In four IndyCar Series starts from 2005 to 2008 at the 1.33-mile concrete oval at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Patrick never started or finished outside the top-10, and she scored three top-five results and two starts on the outside of the front row.

She led her first-ever laps in a stock car on the concrete surface at Dover in September 2010, holding the top spot for three circuits en route to a sixth-place finish in the Sunoco 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race.

And last season, in her first Sprint Cup Series race at the .533-mile concrete oval at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Patrick was in the top-20 and on the lead lap with 66 laps remaining in the Irwin Tools Night Race Sprint Cup Series event before her car was hit by another car and she contacted the SAFER Barrier on the inside retaining wall of the frontstretch. She finished 29th.

That said, Patrick knows the Sprint Cup races at Dover are unlike any other, and she’ll need mental and physical toughness to finish strong on the concrete.

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