Reuters Despite a successful Daytona 500, Danica Patrick remains focused on a steady build-up to becoming an everyday contender in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Patrick became the first female to lead “The Great American Race” and was a threat for the win before having to settle for an eighth-place finish. But the Stewart-Haas Racing rookie knows that she still has a lot to learn before she can run in the lead pack on a consistent basis.
“I think that would be unwise to sort of start telling myself that Top 10 is where we need to be every week,” she said last Sunday at Daytona. “I think that’s setting up for failure. The list of drivers in the Cup series is deep. Daytona is a unique track. These tracks are different and unique — a lot about the car. I mean, you have to be smart enough to do the right thing at the right time. But it’s very much about the car.
“I feel like I’m still sticking to ‘Let’s see how these first five races go where we go to a bunch of different kinds of tracks, see where we settle in.’ Then start to establish goals from there on out.”
Patrick certainly made headlines last weekend in the ‘500’ with her great drive. But she must prove that she can remain competitive across the short and intermediate (1.5 to 2-mile) tracks that make up the bulk of the Sprint Cup schedule.
She can get started on that this weekend at the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway, where she has experience dating back to her IndyCar days. However, the majority of her experience at PIR is in stock cars; she has five career Nationwide Series starts at the “Desert Jewel” (best finish of 10th) and finished 17th in her first Cup run there last fall.
In the meantime, Patrick is sticking with her game plan and also looking to add on the foundation of her efforts in 2012.
“The only thing we can go off of is at the end of last year and running solid inside that Top 20, hopefully get inside that Top 15,” she said.
“That’s really all I can think right now…It might change after five races. It might be better. Who knows? It might be worse. We’re going to kind of pick up where we left off.”
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Larry Foyt may be earning praise for his management of the team that bears his father’s name. But he makes sure to keep four-time Indianapolis 500 champion A.J. Foyt 100 percent involved in its direction. “Believe it or not, I hardly make a decision that we [both] don’t go over,” Larry said on Thursday at…
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IndyCar officials announce preliminary details of return to innovation
May 23, 2013, 7:00 PM EDT
Set against a backdrop of the historic cars that have graced Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more than a century, at the IMS Museum, IndyCar’s new leaders described the preliminary plan for innovation to return to the series. The key word here is “preliminary.” Specific details were hard to find in the formal remarks made Thursday…
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The 2012 United States Grand Prix has been awarded the prestigious Sports Event of the Year award at the SportsBusiness Journal/Daily Business Awards, which was held in New York last night. The race was attended by over 265,000 fans, and the atmosphere was complimented by all of the drivers and teams in Austin. The track…
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The pressure on Pirelli may have finally tolled as the Italian tire supplier has openly threatened to walk away from Formula One for the first time. After receiving criticism from many teams and drivers for producing tire compounds that were too aggressive, Pirelli agreed to a revision of their current design in time for next…
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Adrian Sutil has spoken of his delight upon returning to the streets of Monte Carlo following a year out of Formula One. The German driver has enjoyed a good record at the circuit. In 2008, he shocked the F1 establishment by running as high as 4th for Force India, but his race was ruined when…
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Red Bull Racing may be defending a winning streak at Monaco that stretches back to 2010, but their pace in the Thursday practice sessions has failed to suggest that a fourth consecutive win may be on the cards. However, both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber have both downplayed the results, taking the positives out of…
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The streets of Monte Carlo welcome Formula One for its annual event, attracting the rich and famous from all over the globe for the sport’s jewel in the crown: the Monaco Grand Prix. It is the ultimate test of a driver’s talent behind the wheel and his mental agility, requiring 78 laps of near-perfect precision;…
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Reuters
What comes to mind first when you think of the Monaco Grand Prix? Money, perhaps? You can’t really blamed for that thought. Formula One’s stature as a billion-dollar enterprise enables it to fit in perfectly with the sophisticated surroundings of Monte Carlo. Or maybe it’s the massive amount of star power that comes in for…
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Reuters
Ever since its creation in 1929 on the streets of Monte Carlo, the Monaco Grand Prix has rewarded the best of the best. The list of people that have won it multiple times is a veritable galaxy of Formula One stars, past and present: Ayrton Senna, six wins; Graham Hill and Michael Schumacher, five each;…
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Nico Rosberg completed a sweep of Thursday’s two practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix. With a little more than an hour remaining in the second 90-minute free practice session, Rosberg dropped in the weekend’s first 1:14 lap with a lap of 1:14.759 around the streets of Monte Carlo. Lewis Hamilton made it a Mercedes…
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AP
Watch coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix throughout the weekend on NBC (Sunday, 7:30 a.m. ET), NBC Sports Network and live streamed on NBC Sports Live Extra. As Thursday’s second free practice session gets going, we look at the compounds Pirelli has brought to Monaco – the two softest compounds of soft (prime) and supersoft…
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F1 flashback: Senna, Trulli Monaco win anniversaries celebrated today
May 23, 2013, 7:00 AM EDT
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Watch coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix throughout the weekend on NBC (Sunday, 7:30 a.m. ET), NBC Sports Network and live streamed on NBC Sports Live Extra. Two historic Monaco Grands Prix occurred on May 23. In 1993, Ayrton Senna took his record sixth and last Monaco victory, while in 2004, Jarno Trulli ended Michael…
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Nico Rosberg has finished quickest in the first practice session for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean. Mercedes are expected to excel around the tight and twisting streets of Monaco, with the W04 car having good one-lap pace. Although this result may come as…
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AP
Dale Jarrett (pictured), Maurice Petty, Tim Flock, Jack Ingram and Fireball Roberts will soon be known as NASCAR Hall of Famers. The five NASCAR legends were voted into the Hall today and will officially be inducted as the Class of 2014 in ceremonies at the Charlotte, N.C.-based Hall next January. The honors for Jarrett and…
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Qualifying for the second race of all IZOD IndyCar Series doubleheaders this season — which includes the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit (the next race on the schedule following this weekend’s Indianapolis 500), Honda Indy Toronto and Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston — will be split into two groups. Cars will run in one of two…
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Don’t overlook E.J. Viso as a part of Andretti’s all-star arsenal at Indy
May 22, 2013, 5:00 PM EDT
Reuters
At Andretti Autosport, Ryan Hunter-Reay’s the defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion. James Hinchcliffe has won two of the first four races this year. Marco Andretti has the legendary surname and is off to the best start of his IndyCar career. Carlos Munoz has stolen some headlines in his rookie Indianapolis 500 appearance with a front…
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Reuters
Friday’s Freedom 100 for the Firestone Indy Lights (Noon ET, NBC Sports Network) will feature only 11 cars on the starting grid, but there’s still racing’s ultimate form of bragging rights on the line: Victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Headlining the Freedom 100 field is Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz (pictured), who is also on…
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Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter and his team hosted reigning NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown in his garage today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Brown got to climb into the cockpit of Carpenter’s No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet. “It’s just good times to come hang out and support Ed for…
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AP
Four laps. Ten miles. Seems simple enough. But, of course, there’s no such thing as “simple” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s been said more than once that qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 is decidedly more nerve-wracking than the race itself. It’s an all-out quest for speed and precision that requires the highest levels of…
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49ers coach – and IndyCar team co-owner – Jim Harbaugh to drive Indy 500 pace car
May 22, 2013, 1:30 PM EDT
AP
San Francisco 49ers head coach and Panther Racing co-owner Jim Harbaugh will drive the 2014 Chevy Corvette Stingray pace car and lead the field of 33 to the green flag at Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. Harbaugh, who led the 49ers to last year’s NFC Championship and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII, is a founding partner…
