Danica Patrick More Success

By:
On:
In: NASCAR Cup Series News

Quite simply, Danica Patrick and the GoDaddy team are getting better. Just look at the results from the past few weeks.

She has finished 20th or better four of the last five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekends, including her current streak of three consecutive top-20 finishes.

Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), has run better at some tracks where she has not done well in the past.

Three weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, she came in having never finished better than 21st in two starts. But she raised the eyebrows of some observers when she finished a career-best sixth the race.

Patrick’s sixth-place finish is the highest finish by a female at Atlanta. The previous record was Janet Guthrie’s 10th-place finish on March 19, 1978. Only a fifth-place result by Sara Christian in a Sprint Cup race on Oct. 2, 1949 at Heidelberg (Pa.) Raceway tops Patrick’s finish. Christian also finished sixth at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway on Sept. 11, 1949 and Guthrie finished sixth at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Aug. 28, 1977.

Patrick came back one week later to Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, where she had never qualified or finished better than 30th in three starts. She then qualified 13th and finished 16th to continue her successful ways.

She then headed to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, where she had never qualified or finished in the top-20 in two starts. She started 18th after qualifying was rained out and the field was set by practice speeds. She then finished 19th to score her third consecutive top-20.

The Sprint Cup Series now moves to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon for Sunday’s Sylvania 300. It’s another place that Patrick hasn’t finished in the top-20 in Sprint Cup but, with her recent momentum, a good result may very well be on the docket.

She tested there on Sept. 2 and 3 with Chassis 10-839, the same car she will race this weekend. And she has crew chief Tony Gibson, who has won a few races at the 1.058-mile oval.

In July 2011, Gibson was the crew chief when Ryan Newman won the pole and the race at New Hampshire. He was also car chief in August 1998 when Jeff Gordon won.

With the recent momentum, another good run at New Hampshire would keep things headed in the right direction as competitors get down to the final two month of the season.

TSC PR

Speedway Digest Staff
Follow Me
Latest posts by Speedway Digest Staff (see all)
Post Views: 84