Danica Patrick Impressive in First Stockcar Race

The NASCAR nay-sayers who felt that Danica Patrick would not be able to compete with the boys in stockcar racing, seriously underestimated her talent. The woman can drive, and whether it is an open wheel car in the Indy Racing League or a big, heavy stockcar in the ARCA series, she can succeed.

Saturday February 6, 2010 was Danica Patrick's debut as a stockcar racer. She drove the #7 Go Daddy Chevy for JR Motorsports in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA race at Daytona Beach. Patrick qualified 12th of 43 cars for her starting position in the race. The media has been swarming her all week and she has actually received more media attention than her boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr. I'm sure he can relate to Danica Patrick having all eyes of the racing world on her. The good news is that she handled the media scrutiny and the race itself, in top notch form.

There were 6 female drivers total in the field of 43, including Milka Duno, Alli Owens, Leilani Munter, Jill George and Jennifer Jo Cobb. It was the most female drivers ever to start an ARCA race, but Danica Patrick was the talk of the town. Danica is not new to racing. She has 81 Indycar starts under her belt and was the 2005 IRL rookie of the year. She was the first woman to win an Indycar series race and she finished 5th in the standings last season. That however, is open car racing, which is a lot different than stockcar racing..which is what the whole world kept reminding Danica Patrick about. She ignored them and decided she was as capable as anyone of racing a car with a roof.

The 27 year old from Illinois managed to avoid the first big wreck on lap 10 of the 80 lap race. 10 other cars were not so lucky, and 8 of those 10 drivers had never driven in the ARCA series at Daytona. Patrick avoided another wreck on lap 17 by taking an evasive maneuver to the top of the track. Danica has been watching film of races to help her learn all the little things, like what the cars do when they start sliding up or down the track. It helped her throughout the race.

During the ARCA race, former NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip said this about Danica Patrick while they showed the in car camera shot of her, "She's not thinking about anything but what she needs to be doing on the race track." He was impressed with her focus, intensity and determination throughout the race. That focus came in handy on lap 54 when another car came down on Patrick and forced her into the grass at Daytona. Most drivers would not have been able to save the car from going back up the track and into the wall. Danica Patrick is not "most drivers". She went sideways through the grass and used the brakes, steering wheel, shifting and her talent to save the car and keep it from hitting anything. Waltrip said, "Wow, she has great car control!"

Patrick had to go to pit lane to have the tires changed and to fix the damage caused when the other driver, Nelson Piquet Jr. (former Formula 1 driver) hit her car. She restarted the race in last place and then proceeded to drive her way to the front, eventually cracking the top 5. In the end, the last 10 laps of the race were the most exciting. The drivers were dipping and diving and trying to get past each other, which is no easy task in a restrictor plate race. Patrick got shuffled to the outside lane and was out of the top 10. She fought her way back up and in the last 100 yards she and former 2 wheel superstar Ricky Carmichael were beating and banging on each others doors for position. Fittingly, Patrick edged out Carmichael by a nose to finish in 6th place.

It was a nice piece of driving by Danica Patrick and it may set her up to drive in the NASCAR Nationwide race at Daytona next Saturday. She is confirmed for 12 Nationwide races so far. Why only 12? Well, Patrick will also be racing a full schedule in the IRL and going after a championship and more wins in that series. The woman is a racer, that's what she does. You may get caught up in the provocative Go Daddy commercials she stars in, but make no mistake; Danica Patrick is a race car driver through and through.

After the Daytona race ended, Patrick's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. told her in good ol' boy terms, "You done good." She hugged him. As Patrick was once again swarmed by the media, she told Speed TV's Wendy Venturini, "The car felt pretty good...so that was really fun. I was going side by side with people...the Go Daddy car doesn't look very pretty, but it was fun." Welcome to stockcar racing Danica.

Source: The writer watched this race and has watched Danica Patrick race live in the IRL. Thank you to Speed TV for airing this ARCA race.