Just three weeks ago Danica Patrick had a nice 12th-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. And of course, she finished 8th at the season opening Daytona 500. That’s been pretty much it though as far as highlights on this young NASCAR season for Danica Patrick.
She will look to improve on her short-track results in Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 Sprint Cup race at the .75-mile Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
When is Danica Patrick going to finally win one of these races? Can you imagine the media coverage if/when this happens?
Danica Patrick is no stranger to racing at Richmond, having competed in three NASCAR Nationwide Series races and five IZOD IndyCar Series races at the three-quarter-mile oval. She scored four top-10 IndyCar finishes, including sixth-place results in 2007 and 2008 and a fifth-place effort in 2009.
In the November Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International, Danica Patrick finished what was then a career-best 17th after running as high as 14th with less than five laps to go.
One focus for Patrick to get better finishes and possibly win would be improving qualifying efforts. In addition to the obvious better starting spot, the better qualifying effort results in a better pit stall and better track position to start the race are both extremely critical this week at a short track like Richmond.
Sunday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Danica Patrick qualified 25th, her best since taking the pole at this year’s season-opening Daytona 500. But again 25th place? That’s still rather pedestrian at best.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
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