Danica Patrick Knows NASCAR Loudon Race Presents Challenge

NASCAR was interested in learning more about Danica Patrick’s Daytona Nationwide Series crash, in which her steering column move sharply upward and left her with a bruised arm last week.

Patrick, speaking to reporters on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, said crew chief Tony Eury Jr. told her NASCAR planned to stop by the shop and take photos of the car’s interior to “make sure all the (safety features) did what they were supposed to do.”

“The point of contact along with the sheer speed that it hit at, Tony said the clip got moved back like 10 inches or something like that,” Patrick said. “In his words it was a ‘good lick.’”

Patrick’s attention is now focused on this weekend’s Nationwide race at New Hampshire, a track where she has limited experience in a stock car. She has made just one start at Loudon – two years ago, when she finished in 30th place and five laps behind the leaders.

“Hopefully, (Saturday’s race) goes a lot better than the first time I was here a couple of years ago, and I’m sure it will to some degree,” Patrick said. “I think our season is coming along, as far as getting faster all the time, working on things throughout the year like qualifying and restarts and things like that.

“Short tracks are the biggest area I need to improve in. I need to keep my expectations realistic this weekend and keep improving from there on where I’ve been at on these kinds of tracks.”

Although she has just one top-10 finish on the year, Patrick feels her team is better than the results have indicated. And to get those results, Patrick made it clear what needs to happen.

“I’m finding improvement,” Patrick said. “It’s just a matter of putting the weekend together and catching some luck and getting some results that I feel we deserve as a team.”