Danica Takes Inaugural Daytona Stock Car Laps

Posted in articles on 20. Dec, 2009

Daytona Beach, FL, United States (AHN) – Rain delayed and limited her track time but IndyCar star Danica Patrick finally made her Superspeedway debut in a stock car late Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Reoccurring showers throughout the first portion of the day kept her and her JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet off the track, but later in the day she got on the track and starting learning about a stock car under the tutelage of Tony Eury Jr., a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief and cousin to team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“It’s definitely by far the biggest track that I have been on in a stock car since I’ve only ever been on a mile before,” Patrick said. “It was a big difference. The car moves around quite a bit. The car was definitely getting some action in the rear over the bumps. It was getting a little bit loose but I kept my foot in it and tried not chasing it too much with the steering.”

Patrick made a number of laps around the famed 2.5-mile tri-oval and she will be back here in six weeks for the season-opening ARCA race on Feb. 6.

Whether she makes her NASCAR Nationwide Series debut a week after that remains to be seen, but it has been confirmed that she will drive in the Nationwide race a week after that at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.

“(Daytona’s) quite an arena to run my first Nationwide (race), with 30 stock-car guys out there,” she said. “Without making anyone mad . . . it did feel a little slow, actually. At Indy, we’re doing 230 miles per hour. We’re about 50 miles per hour slower than that. You do notice it.”

Patrick and JR Motorsports haven’t ruled out her competing in the season-opening Nationwide event on Feb. 13, which is ran the day before stock car’s biggest race, the Daytona 500. Patrick driving in the event depends upon how far she progresses and how she feels after the 200-mile ARCA event on Feb. 6