NASCAR Cup Series
After rough Speedweeks, Danica Patrick eager for Atlanta return
NASCAR Cup Series

After rough Speedweeks, Danica Patrick eager for Atlanta return

Published Feb. 26, 2015 3:28 p.m. ET

From being forced to two backup cars to getting up in Denny Hamlin's face after a wreck in her Budweiser Duel qualifier, Danica Patrick endured a rough, wild and largely disappointing Daytona Speedweeks.

After finishing 21st in Sunday's Daytona 500, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver would like to hit the restart button for Race Two of the 36-race Sprint Cup Series campaign.

The good news?

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There's probably no better place for her to do that than Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500.

It was at Atlanta last Labor Day weekend that Patrick twice battled back from a lap down to finish a career-best sixth -- which still remains her best ever result in NASCAR's top series.

Patrick returns to the 1.54-mile quad oval this weekend with a different crew chief, Daniel Knost, from the one who sat atop her No. 10 pit box last September, but carries the expectation that she can repeat and perhaps even improve on last year's success.

"I feel like the team did a great job with the car there last year," said Patrick, whose crew chief at the time, Tony Gibson, is now calling the shots for the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing car being driven this weekend by Regan Smith.

"I think grip is a premium, obviously, as the tires fall off there maybe more than anywhere else we go. I think that's where you really rely on the downforce of the car and having a car that does what you want it to do consistently through the tire life, as well.

"By the time we got to Atlanta last season, we had worked on the car a lot throughout the year and got it to a point where it was how I liked it," said Patrick, whose Atlanta finish was her third top 10 of the season and the fourth top 10 of her Sprint Cup career. "I think the team did a great job with the car itself, giving me the most amount of downforce possible to deal with no grip left."

Patrick's sixth-place finish was the best by a female at Atlanta. The previous record was Janet Guthrie's 10th-place finish on March 19, 1978 -- but that came on the old, pre-1997, oval configuration.

Only a fifth-place result by Sara Christian in a Sprint Cup race on Oct. 2, 1949 at Heidelberg (Pennsylvania) Raceway topped Patrick's result overall. Christian also finished sixth at Langhorn (Pennsylvania) Speedway on Sept. 11, 1949, and Guthrie finished sixth at Bristol (Tennessee) Motor Speedway on Aug. 28, 1977.

Patrick believes this weekend's race -- more so than Daytona -- could set the tone for the season, since Atlanta is one of several 1.5-mile tracks on the schedule. This weekend also marks the debut of a new 2015 rules package on all Sprint Cup Series cars. The new rules package -- which features lower downforce and less horsepower than last season -- will be effect for 32 of the remaining 35 races, with the only exceptions between the three remaining restrictor-plate events.

"You have to do well to have momentum. There's no promise there," Patrick said. "With a new crew chief and new cars, it might not go well at all. On the other hand, it might be awesome. We just won't know until we get there. I think that's the case for every team.

"You really don't know how you're going to do until you really get out there and actually get running. We'll just have to see."

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