DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick wasn’t much of a contender in Sunday’s rain-postponed Advance Auto Parts Clash, but when the frontrunners made contact, it sent the field behind them scattering, allowing Patrick to emerge unscathed and earn a fourth-place finish.
While Sunday’s 39th annual event was an exhibition event and doesn’t officially place her into the records books as the highest finishing female in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the finish was a great diversion from an on-going sponsorship feud between former sponsor Nature’s Bakery and Stewart-Haas Racing.
“I will say that I got a little lucky, but there’s a lot of that in speedway racing,” said Patrick. “It was a nice way to start things off in the TaxAct Ford today. These Fords seem pretty fast. Roush Yates (Engines) does a great job. I got dropped back in the very back for a little bit, but once they started shuffling around, I got a big run.
“I felt fast, but it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and having the right help behind you, too. It got harder and harder toward the end of the race with fewer cars out there, but we were in the right place at the right time.”
The Roscoe, Ill. native added, “If you’re gonna have one track where I’ve had good races, you kind of hope Daytona is one of them or maybe the one. It would be great to get a 500 win, but it’s great to run up front. We start off with the biggest race of the year.”
Patrick was the highest finishing Ford from the Stewart-Haas Racing camp, who switched from Chevrolet to Ford during the offseason. 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick finished right behind in fifth, while Kurt Busch was taken out in a Lap 17 accident with seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
Even though Sunday’s finish doesn’t particularly matter when it comes to points or the record books, the performance does give Patrick’s No. 10 team a good direction towards their Daytona 500 setup, which will be the first race of record for SHR running the historic blue oval.
“Yeah, I would agree with that,” Patrick said of looking ahead. “The way that the cars are handling in the heat of the day more. It’s a nice, sunny day. We’ve got plenty of humidity out there from all the rain, but it’s good practice for the 500, more so than it would have been if we would have run at night by all means.”
While TaxAct backed Patrick’s run on Sunday, the team announced Tuesday that Aspen Dental had stepped up its commitment to double digits for the 2017 Cup season, including next Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
