Daytona Beach, FL (Sports Network) - Danica Patrick had an impressive
performance in her stock car racing debut Saturday at Daytona International
Speedway, finishing sixth despite spinning during the mid-stages of the Lucas
Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA race.
Patrick, who has become the center of attention in the opening days of
Speedweeks at Daytona, started 12th and held her pace until lap 54 when former
Formula One star Nelson Piquet Jr. tapped her right front fender and put her
into a spin on the frontstretch. She managed not to hit anything before her
No.7 Chevrolet slid on the infield grass.
After pitting twice for repairs during the caution, Patrick restarted at the
tail end of the lead lap but charged through the field within the final 15
laps before nipping Ricky Carmichael at the line to finish sixth. She became
the highest finishing female in a race at Daytona since Shawna Robinson's
second-place run here in the 1999 ARCA event.
"I was pretty excited to go from last back to the top-five again, and then I
jumped up high again, and I said, 'Whatever, there's eight to go, who cares,
let's go.'"
Patrick -- the most popular star in the IndyCar Series -- could make her first
Nationwide Series start in next week's season-opener. A decision on her
Nationwide debut at Daytona is expected within the next few days. Patrick is
running a partial schedule in NASCAR's second-tier series for JR Motorsports
this year.
"The car felt really good, so that was pretty fun," she added.
Bobby Gerhart won the 80-lap ARCA season-opener, claiming his sixth victory at
Daytona. Gerhart ran the final 65 laps around the 2.5-mile superspeedway
without pitting.
"We calculated what little time we had that we could run 66 laps," Gerhart
said. "You look at the cautions, and it just didn't do that. I did everything
I could."
Mark Thompson finished second, followed by John Wes Townley, James Buescher
and Patrick Sheltra. Townley and Buescher are expected to run a full schedule
in Nationwide this season.
