By
David Caraviello,
NASCAR
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick has a very simple goal for her first NASCAR race.
"My goal purely is to finish," said the IndyCar star, who will compete in Saturday's Nationwide Series opener at Daytona International Speedway. "Just to finish the race and log 300 miles in practice.
The practice part she seems to have down. Patrick posted the fifth-fastest speed in Thursday's final session, a marked improvement from her 26th-place effort in opening practice a day earlier. But she knows that more drivers made qualifying runs Thursday, and that there was less pack racing, and that everything changes once the engines fire for real on Saturday afternoon.
"It's nice to go up the speed chart," said Patrick, driving a No. 7 car for JR Motorsports. "They told me not to look at the speed chart [Wednesday] when I was 26th, because it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to look at it [Thursday] when I'm fifth, because it doesn't really matter."
Patrick made the decision to enter the Nationwide event after a promising stock-car debut in this past weekend's ARCA race, where she finished sixth despite a spin through the infield grass that left her in the back late in the event. Saturday, though, will feature a vastly more competitive field, with eight Sprint Cup regulars -- including Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Patrick's car owner -- participating. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
"This is a whole another ball of wax this weekend," she said. "This car is not as easy to drive, there are a lot of really great drivers out there, really great teams out there, and everybody is running close. Everybody wants to make that next step up to Cup. So this is a very different situation for me."
Yet Patrick is clearly picking up the nuances of stock-car racing rather quickly, and she's getting plenty of help. In recent days she's conferred with the likes of Earnhardt, Stewart, Juan Montoya and even Chad Knaus, crew chief to four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. And despite the learning curve, there's no doubt she's enjoying the process.
"I can't deny that I really like driving the car," she said. "I can't deny that it's fun racing. I go back to my original reason for wanting to come race stock cars, and that's because the racing looks fun. Now I know it is. I don't doubt there are going to be hard days ... where you just want to park it and you're just saving your life every corner. All in all, these are really fun cars to drive, and I really like the racing."
Like it more than IndyCars? "It's like having two kids," she joked. "I can't pick."
David Caraviello,
NASCAR
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick has a very simple goal for her first NASCAR race.
"My goal purely is to finish," said the IndyCar star, who will compete in Saturday's Nationwide Series opener at Daytona International Speedway. "Just to finish the race and log 300 miles in practice.
The practice part she seems to have down. Patrick posted the fifth-fastest speed in Thursday's final session, a marked improvement from her 26th-place effort in opening practice a day earlier. But she knows that more drivers made qualifying runs Thursday, and that there was less pack racing, and that everything changes once the engines fire for real on Saturday afternoon.
"It's nice to go up the speed chart," said Patrick, driving a No. 7 car for JR Motorsports. "They told me not to look at the speed chart [Wednesday] when I was 26th, because it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to look at it [Thursday] when I'm fifth, because it doesn't really matter."
Patrick made the decision to enter the Nationwide event after a promising stock-car debut in this past weekend's ARCA race, where she finished sixth despite a spin through the infield grass that left her in the back late in the event. Saturday, though, will feature a vastly more competitive field, with eight Sprint Cup regulars -- including Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Patrick's car owner -- participating. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
"This is a whole another ball of wax this weekend," she said. "This car is not as easy to drive, there are a lot of really great drivers out there, really great teams out there, and everybody is running close. Everybody wants to make that next step up to Cup. So this is a very different situation for me."
Yet Patrick is clearly picking up the nuances of stock-car racing rather quickly, and she's getting plenty of help. In recent days she's conferred with the likes of Earnhardt, Stewart, Juan Montoya and even Chad Knaus, crew chief to four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. And despite the learning curve, there's no doubt she's enjoying the process.
"I can't deny that I really like driving the car," she said. "I can't deny that it's fun racing. I go back to my original reason for wanting to come race stock cars, and that's because the racing looks fun. Now I know it is. I don't doubt there are going to be hard days ... where you just want to park it and you're just saving your life every corner. All in all, these are really fun cars to drive, and I really like the racing."
Like it more than IndyCars? "It's like having two kids," she joked. "I can't pick."
