More Racing
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
VIDEO: Danica Patrick Post-Race Interview - ARCA
SPEED’s Wendy Venturini interviews Danica Patrick after her first stock car race...
SPEED Staff  |  Posted February 07, 2010   Daytona Beach, FL
SPEED’s Wendy Venturini interviews Danica Patrick after her first stock car race. (Photo: SPEED)
SPEED’s Wendy Venturini interviews Danica Patrick after her first stock car race and gets her impressions on Daytona.



IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick finished sixth in her ARCA stock car racing debut at Daytona International Speedway. Patrick, who is expected to decide on Monday if she will compete in next week's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona, used the ARCA race to learn how to adapt to big, heavy stock cars. She showed that she is a fast learner, working the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet on the inside, outside and middle lanes of the racetrack in both the front and the back of the field throughout the 80 lap/200-mile event.

Patrick ran in the lead pack for the first half of the race until getting loose in turns 1 and 2 on lap 50, losing the draft and dropping from sixth to 13th. Three laps later Nelson Piquet, Jr., the former Formula One driver who also used Saturday's ARCA race to make his stock car debut, made contact with Patrick's car coming off of turn 4, forcing her through the infield grass. Patrick slid sideways on the track and went through the infield grass but was able to avoid making contact. She made two pit stops following the spin, remaining on the lead lap, finishing sixth in her career first stock car start.

"I was just kind of hanging out there for most of the race," said Patrick. "There were lots of yellows. It feels to me like I got bumped a little bit in turns one and two (on lap 53). I just held to the yellow line because I know that you're not supposed to go below the yellow line to advance your position and I took myself out unfortunately. I was pretty excited to go from last to the top five. I felt pretty good, I was going side-by-side with people. And then at the end I was running eighth and I thought what the heck so I pulled out of the line and ran high. You can see I was racing by all of the marks on the car. The GoDaddy.com Chevrolet doesn't look very pretty."

While Patrick garnered most of the media attention this weekend it was Gerhart to etched his name further into the ARCA Racing Series Record Books, earning a record sixth Daytona ARCA victory. The Lebanon, Pennsylvania, native pitted to make adjustments to the No. 5 Lucas Oil Slick Mist Chevrolet on lap 12 of 80 during the second of six caution periods, making the most of the pit stop by topping the car off with fuel. He did not pit for the remainder of the 200-mile race and worked his way to the point position by lap 30.

SOURCE: ARCA Communications

Play! SPEED Fantasy Racing Cup Edition - Spring Series


speed_staff's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SPEED Staff

SPEED.com

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR