Strong finish at Charlotte shines a little light on Danica Patrick's season
There may be light at the end of the tunnel for Danica Patrick.
Patrick, now in her fourth full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, drove her Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet to an impressive 11th-place finish in Sunday’s rain-delayed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The 11th-place result was Patrick’s best of the year in the 30 races run so far. The strong finish allowed Patrick to stay 23rd in points, which if she can maintain over the final six races will be a career best.
It’s not like Patrick is suddenly contending to win races on a weekly basis, but she’s making some progress at least.
“I was really hoping we’d end up getting a top-10, but (Jamie) McMurray got us on the last lap, so we ended up 11th,” said Patrick. “Still, I think that’s our best run so far this year, so we’ll take it and try to keep building over the last few races to put ourselves in a better position for next season.”
Not surprisingly, Patrick’s good finish was helped by a solid qualifying effort that saw her start from the 13th position. The only race she started better this year was Sonoma, where Patrick qualified 11th.
After a good start at Charlotte, on Lap 209 Patrick fell off the lead lap during a long green-fag run. Bu when the caution flag came out on Lap 228, she got the free pass, which put the No. 10 Aspen Dental Chevrolet team back on the lead lap.
In the late stages of the race, Patrick overshot her pit stall, which cost her valuable track position. Still, Patrick climbed back in the top 10 by lap 303, only to be passed by McMurray on the 334th and final lap.
“The No. 10 Aspen Dental Chevrolet was loose for most of the race,” Patrick said. “Billy (Scott, crew chief) and the guys did a great job on adjustments to get us in solid position for the second half,” said Patrick.
“We had a mistake on pit road late in the race and lost some ground when I overshot the pit stall, but the guys quickly recovered and we ended up only losing a couple of spots. The car got a little tight, but they took some wedge back out, and it was pretty good there at the end.”
Stewart-Haas Racing
