The “NASCAR Goes West” journey continues for Danica Patrick and the No. 10 Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) as they travel to the “Valley of the Sun” for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam 500k at Phoenix International Raceway.
The race in Phoenix marks race number two of this year’s three-race jaunt out West for Sprint Cup teams. The No. 10 Nature’s Bakery team scored a 21st-place finish on the first leg of the trip last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After Phoenix, the “NASCAR Goes West” portion of the season will conclude March 20 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Entering Sunday’s race, Patrick brings experience from competing in three different series at Phoenix: Sprint Cup, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the IndyCar Series. In her lone IndyCar start at the mile oval in 2005, Patrick finished 15th. She has competed in five Xfinity Series races at Phoenix and earned a 10th-place result in November 2012. Patrick has made seven Sprint Cup starts at the track and scored her best finish there – a 16th-place effort – after overcoming a pit-road penalty in last November’s rain-shortened event.
The return to Phoenix also marks the fourth race for Patrick and her new crew chief Billy Scott. After getting off to a rough start with an accident in the season-opener in Daytona, the team has scored finishes of 20th at Atlanta Motor Speedway and 21st at Las Vegas, and Patrick has moved up eight spots – from 34th to 26th – in the driver standings.
Heading into this weekend at Phoenix, the Nature’s Bakery team is looking to continue to improve upon its results thus far with great hopes that a return to the “Valley of the Sun” will bring a solid finish.
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