Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Chevrolet SS (hey, I drive an Impala too! Danica Patrick and I are soul mates) for Stewart-Haas Racing, heads deep in the heart of Texas with some “momentum” after a solid run Sunday at Martinsville. After encountering some early issues, bad breaks and a poor start, Danica Patrick rallied for a 12th-place finish at the .526-mile oval.
Danica Patrick has seen her biggest career highlights at the Brickyard and Daytona. In seven Indianapolis 500 starts, Patrick finished in the top-10 six times, including third in ’09, the best finish ever for a woman in the Indy 500. At Daytona, Danica Patrick won the pole for the ’12 NASCAR Nationwide Series race and then, one year later, became the first woman ever to win a Sprint Cup pole by taking the #1 spot for the Daytona 500. She finished eighth in that race, the highest ever by a woman in the history of the Daytona 500.
Indy and Daytona have provided plenty of good press for Danica Patrick, but it’s the Texas Motor Speedway where she might have had the best track record.
Of all the tracks where Danica Patrick will compete this year, she has the most starts at Texas, having driven in 13 major-league races – one Cup, four Nationwide, and eight IndyCar
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In last November’s Sprint Cup race at Texas, Danica Patrick started 32nd and finished 24th. It was, at the time, her best career Sprint Cup finish. In her four Nationwide Series races, Patrick has three top-15 finishes, including an eighth place result in April 2012. In Patrick’s eight IndyCar Series starts at the 1.5-mile oval, she has five top-10 finishes, including a third-place result in June 2007 and second-place finish in June 2010.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an author and regular contributor to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, and Walter Football.
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