NASCAR Cup Series

Danica: Boyfriend Stenhouse and I are changing how we view struggles

Published Apr. 8, 2015 5:00 p.m. ET

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Jared Turner

In their first two seasons as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, Danica Patrick and boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. often found themselves downtrodden at the end of a long race weekend.

Given their mutual struggles, frustration and disappointment were natural emotions.

Even on the rare occasion that one of them finished well, the other usually didn't, however. So rather than focusing on her good day, Patrick would find herself thinking about Stenhouse's bad day. And vice versa.

Thus it seemed that the two lovebirds -- who share a residence and a motorhome -- rarely, if ever, could fully enjoy their fleeting successes.

But a watershed moment came after Daytona 500 qualifying back in February when Patrick clocked in only 32nd quickest and failed to get out of the opening round but her boyfriend made the second round and ended up a respectable 18th.

"From that point on, I said, 'We're going to celebrate the good days,'" Patrick said during a promotional stop on Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "Because I feel that's the only complaint I have is we don't usually have good days at the same time. So instead of celebrating one of us, it's (been) step back and let the other person have their bad day.

"But I'm going to flip it this year, and if I have a bad day, and he has a good day, we're going to celebrate because the year gets way too long when you're just down all the time."

Both winless in NASCAR's top series, Patrick and Stenhouse have combined for just two top-five finishes -- both courtesy of Stenhouse -- since going full time Sprint Cup racing in 2013.

After finishing 28th and one spot worse than Stenhouse in last year's standings, Patrick has actually fared better than her boyfriend this season.

After six races, she is 16th in the standings and enters Saturday night's Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX) fresh off a season-best seventh-place finish in her most recent outing -- the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 29.

Stenhouse, meanwhile, is 28th in the standings and has finished no better than 12th while competing for a Roush Fenway Racing organization that has struggled to find speed with all three of its Sprint Cup Series teams.

Patrick, who drives for Stewart-Haas Racing -- a two-time winner this season with teammate Kevin Harvick -- has made a conscious effort in recent weeks to encourage her boyfriend of more than two years.

"Last year we consoled each other a lot," she said. "But his first year in Cup was definitely much better than it has been (in 2015). Every team goes through their ebbs and flows of good and bad and you've got to figure them out. I know his team is working on it.

"By all means, I just reassure him that you never forget how to drive. You just have got to get the stuff underneath you that you need."

Stenhouse, a two-time XFINITY Series champion for Roush Fenway, is trying to stay positive, according to his girlfriend.

"He continues to work hard," Patrick said. "He believes in what I believe: That hard works pay off."

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