Danica Patrick held her own against the field at Kentucky Speedway on Friday night.
But neither Patrick nor any of the other 41 drivers had anything for Austin Dillon, who won his first Nationwide race in his 26th start.
Only eight cars finished on the lead lap. Although Patrick ran in the top 15 all evening, Dillon passed the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet on the frontstretch to knock her two laps down with seven circuits remaining in the Feed The Children 300.
“I wish I could go faster, I really do,” Patrick said. “It just won’t go.”
Although crew chief Tony Eury Jr. counted down the laps, Patrick maintained 12th over the closing laps.
“Thanks, guys,” Patrick said on the radio. “I’m sorry I wasn’t any faster, just didn’t feel like I was on the track today for one thing or another; it was either tight or loose. But you all worked hard, and that doesn’t change that, so thanks.”
Patrick started 11th. She pitted for the first time during the first caution on Lap 28. Eury lowered the track bar and made an air-pressure adjustment, and Patrick cycled out 13th.
Perhaps her hairiest moment of the night came when she took the car three-wide with Brad Sweet and James Buescher on Lap 35, but moved up to 12th in the exchange. While the track stayed warm, Patrick’s car was loose, but fluctuated between both extremes as the surface cooled down.
By Lap 41, Patrick was picking up speed.
“That was a really good lap there,” Eury said.
“The car is really asking me to pick up the throttle,” Patrick said while running 12th. “It settles everything down.”
“Alright, use her up,” Eury Jr. replied.
Then Patrick reported her tires were “feeling a little slippery” as she slid to 13th position.
“I’m loose into Three and a little bit into One,” Patrick said two laps later.
And then the car really became a handful by Lap 72.
“I’m so loose,” said Patrick running 12th. “I can’t hold my own anymore. Traffic is really (screwing) me because I’m loose.”
Patrick climbed to fifth as drivers peeled off for pit stops. On Lap 84, she pitted and the team made another track bar adjustment, but fell off the lead lap and cycled out to 16th as the cars finished their rounds.
Patrick moved up to 11th before her second pit stop on Lap 141. The caution flag flew on the next lap, and she returned to the track 15th. Just before the race went green on Lap 150, Patrick asked if fuel was an issue. Eury replied, “Save what you can; we’re in our window here, but save what you can.”
She restarted 15th with just nine cars on the lead lap and gained three spots in the final 50 laps. But Dillon decimated the field. Although Kurt Busch made every attempt to catch the No. 3 Chevrolet, he dropped a cylinder in his engine and was 9.828-seconds behind him at the finish.
Dillon’s victory vaulted him to the points lead. He holds a two-point advantage over Elliott Sadler.
Patrick finished 12th in her Kentucky Speedway debut and moved to ninth in the point standings.
“It was just kind of a really frustrating to sort of average night,” Patrick said. “I never really felt like we were settled down and the car was on the track. No matter what our handling issue was, it was too much for the car to handle. Even for the little bits of time it was settled down and I had a decent balance, I just couldn’t drive it very hard.
“I think we’re going to have to think about the setup and some of the things that we’ve been trying to see if — we’ve been trying some stuff and maybe it’s not so good. But we finished the race.”
