Battle back for solid finish has Patrick leaving Martinsville proud

What was expected to and nearly came to be a disastrous day for Danica Patrick, turned out to be a career one at Martinsville.

Patrick finished and impressive 12th at the short track after spinning in turn three just 15 laps into the race. The consequence of hitting the curb while trying to get to the inside of Ken Schrader. And with already being in the rear of the field due to a Saturday engine change, the spin led to a lost lap and the beginning of a long day.

“We had a spin at the very beginning and felt like I kind of got pinched down but I also got in pretty hard, so when you got the momentum going that way it’s sort of a perfect storm,” said Patrick after the race.

“But I learned my lesson to make sure that you don’t go in too hard because they’re going to be holding you tight and there’s going to be nowhere to go, nowhere to slide up and you get into them. Learned that lesson early. We were two laps down at one point and I’m probably most proud of getting those two laps back and then running strong until the end there on the lead lap.”

She messed her shifts up coming out to practice on Saturday and the team opted to change the engine. Her speed in practice though, and running Hendrick engines, gave her the confidence everything would be fine when the race started.

Patrick gave crew chief Tony Gibson, who won this race a year ago with Ryan Newman, a lot of the credit for the team’s performance as they used strategy in order to get back on the lead lap without falling back on the lucky dog award. Once those laps were erased they soon we’re climbing towards the leaders.

Patrick passed former Nationwide Series owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. just before the race became 400 laps old. Current team owner Tony Stewart was next on the list, who she also finished ahead of as well was teammate Ryan Newman.

“I felt a little funny kind of racing really hard for position there with Tony at the end and then to get in front of him,” said Patrick. “That was a little victory for me because he’s so good.

“I’m going to go over to his bus after this and see what he has to say about it. It was really fun. Gibson just prepares nice cars for Martinsville. It’s not about being first on your team, it’s about being first out there overall, and you work towards that the whole time.”

Not knowing what to expect in her Martinsville debut, Patrick relied on both spotter and crew chief for guidance. Where to run, how hard to run and even though she found herself comfortable right from the start and into a rhythm, Patrick admitted that every time she had to get inside of another car it was a challenge. Mostly in making sure she didn’t get into anyone else, ensuring she kept as many friends as possible.

During his post-race press conference Clint Bowyer admitted he found himself behind Patrick at one point and couldn’t make the pass.

“She came a long ways from yesterday, she was extremely fast. Good job,” Bowyer told her. Winning car owner Rick Hendrick also expressed his surprise and delight in her finish.

More importantly for Patrick, it was her first solid finish since her hot start at Daytona. Finding an up weekend in a difficult place of what has been a rocky start to her Rookie season.

“It was just nice to have a good weekend after having so many that weren’t good since Daytona,” said Patrick. “It was a fun little track. I was told that if it goes well you’ll be like, ‘I don’t mind this place at all, let’s come back.’ And if it doesn’t you don’t ever want to see it again.

“Today was one of those days, I had a good car and Gibson has got a good track record here. Newman won this race last year and he’s always run really well. I think the team has a lot to be proud of. The stops were good. We had a little right font damage from early in the race so it was a pain in the butt to get that tire off and then back on for stops.

“But it was good to get the GoDaddy car up there and Hendrick did a nice job all weekend.”