Patrick finishes sixth in stock-car debut at Daytona
Rallies after recovering from contact, spin in ARCA race
By Sporting News Wire Service
February 6, 2010
08:26 PM EST
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If you didn't know the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway was Danica Patrick's first stock-car race, her first question after rolling across the finish line in sixth place was a dead giveaway.
"Where should I go?" Patrick asked, after Bobby Gerhart took the checkered flag for his record sixth ARCA Series win at Daytona.
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At the end of an adventuresome 80-lap race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Patrick found her way to the garage. Between the green flag and the checkered flag, Patrick had slid through the grass and spun after contact from Nelson Piquet Jr. on Lap 54, restarted 24th and ultimately recovered to run as high as fifth before the finish.
"That was fun -- that was a good time," Patrick radioed to crew chief Tony Eury Jr. "I definitely learned a lot. But I felt what it was like to have the tires go off. That was a handful."
With an adroit save after the contact from Piquet and her charge through the field in the final 17 laps, Patrick earned high praise from her JR Motorsports team.
"You drove the wheels off that thing, girl," radioed co-owner Rick Hendrick. "We're proud of you."
Patrick replied, "Thank you very much."
After climbing from her car, Patrick looked at the battle scars on her No. 7 Chevrolet.
"I was pretty excited to go from last back to the top five again," she said. "It was really fun. I was going side-by-side with people. The GoDaddy car doesn't look very pretty, but it was fun."
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