Danica Patrick was her usual “one lap downica,” not once, but twice. However, she came back to score her career best 6th place finish last night at Atlanta. Sixth Place! That reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Al Gore is informed “somebody actually bought a copy of your book sir.”
“Well, this calls for a celebration” *Plays the Kool and the Gang song* “celebrate good times c’mon” “I will” Gore says. Of course Danica did win a rain shortened IndyCar race in Japan, so I guess that counts. But this is her best ever showing domestically.
“It was a long night,” Danica Patrick said. “Man, that race felt like it was 700 miles. Sometimes when you are running well they feel like that because you are hoping it stays there, keeps going well, and you keep improving and don’t lose it. There were definitely a couple of times late in the race when we fell back. In the middle of the race the GoDaddy car was very good. We took a little step back, and then it came back in the end.”
Danica Patrick ’s sixth-place finish is the highest finish by a female at Atlanta. The previous record was held by Janet Guthrie (10th on March 19, 1978). Only a fifth-place result by Sara Christian in a Sprint Cup race on Oct. 2, 1949 at Heidelberg (Pa.) Raceway tops Patrick’s finish. Christian also finished sixth at Langhorn (Pa.) Speedway on Sept. 11, 1949 and Guthrie finished sixth at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Aug. 28, 1977.
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