Danica Patrick is quite the opposite of Jimmie Johnson. I’d much rather write about Danica than JJ, as she’s more interesting. However, Patrick seems to always finish in the high 20s and 30s, while Johnson always seems to be winning. Jimmie Johnson is so good he’s boring. While Danica Patrick will always get attention regardless of where she finishes.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet finished 30th in the Federated Auto Parts 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.
Patrick, who started 36th, never could get the car to her liking during the race.
“There are nights that you just know it’s not going to go your way, and this was one of those nights. We’ve been making gains in recent weeks, but tonight was tough. The important thing is for me and the guys to forget about it and move onto Chicago and look to get better,” said Danica.
Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against her boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 20 spots behind her beau, who placed 10th for his first career top-10. She remained 27th in the standings with 473 points.
Danica Patrick, who had been battling through a loose-handling condition, was running a solid race and holding her ground early in the race. But shortly after lap 100, her car slid up the track in turn three and slapped the outside retaining wall. The contact caused damage to the right side of the car and also bent the splitter bar down.
Here are your 2013 Danica Patrick Sprint Cup season results thus far. The first number indicates how many drivers were in the race. So of course that number is perfectly static. The second number indicates where she started. The last indicates where she finished. So you’ll see Danica Patrick started on with pole position at the Daytona 500 and finished 8th.
And then you see a LOT of Danica Patrick finishes in the 20s and 30s.
1 Daytona 43 1 8
2 Phoenix 43 40 39
3 Las Vegas 43 37 33
4 Bristol 43 41 28
5 Fontana 43 40 26
6 Martinsville 43 32 12
7 Fort Worth 43 42 28
8 Kansas 43 25 25
9 Richmond 43 30 29
10 Talladega 43 23 33
11 Darlington 43 40 28
12 Charlotte 43 24 29
13 Dover 43 39 24
14 Pocono 43 30 29
15 Michigan 43 37 13
16 Sonoma 43 31 29
17 Kentucky 43 29 23
18 Daytona 43 11 14
19 Loudon 43 32 37
20 Indianapolis 43 33 30
21 Pocono 43 34 35
22 Watkins Glen 43 35
23 Michigan 43 28 23
24 Bristol 43 22 26
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)