Danica Patrick: From Homestead-Miami and IndyCar to Daytona International and NASCAR

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – On March 6, 2005, Danica Patrick made her IZOD IndyCar Series debut driving for three-time IndyCar Series champion Bobby Rahal in a 300-mile event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Slightly less than seven years later, Patrick will make her NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut 296 miles to the north of Homestead when she takes part in the 54th Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

And once again, a three-time series champion – this time Tony Stewart, who captured Sprint Cup titles in 2002, 2005 and 2011 – will mentor Patrick as she adjusts to a full-time, stock-car racing schedule. Patrick is slated to compete in 10 Sprint Cup races in the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet while also participating in a full NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The road to Daytona from Homestead wasn’t simply a drive up I-95 on the east side of Florida but rather an incredible journey for Patrick, who has become widely known simply by her first name.

Since that sunny day in March 2005, the Go Daddy Girl has set numerous records and twice appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, making her just the fourth racecar driver (Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., and Al Unser being the others) to grace the cover of the famous magazine two times.

In April 2008, Patrick became the first woman to win a major-league open-wheel race in a North American series with her win in the IndyCar Series Indy Japan 300 at the Twin Ring Motegi oval in Japan. Six times, she finished in the top-10 in points in the IndyCar standings, including a fifth-place result in 2009 – the best ever by a woman.

But nowhere did Patrick perform better than on the biggest IndyCar Series stage of all – the Indianapolis 500. She burst onto the scene at Indy in May 2005 when she stunned the world by leading three times for 19 laps and finishing fourth in her first “500” – becoming the first woman to lead laps and score a top-five finish in the historic race.

She set numerous records during her Indianapolis 500 debut and set the tone early when she posted the fastest lap on the opening day of practice. She went on to set the fastest practice lap five times throughout the month – more than any other driver – including Pole Day and Carburetion Day.

Patrick’s practice lap of 229.880 mph on Pole Day was the fastest of any driver during the month and the fastest turned by any woman in the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. During her qualification attempt, Patrick made an impressive save as her car bobbled in turn one on her first lap, earning her rave reviews for her car control by longtime Speedway observers. She ended up qualifying fourth, the best-ever starting position for a woman in the race.

On race day, with 11 laps remaining in the 200-lap event, Patrick blew past leader Dan Wheldon and held the point until lap 194, when she was forced to slow down in order to conserve fuel to make it to the finish. Her efforts earned her Rookie of the Year honors.

Patrick scored six top-10 finishes in seven starts at Indianapolis and qualified 10th or better five times. Her third-place result in 2009 is the best finish ever for a woman in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

As the scene switches this month to the historic Daytona 500, it’s easy to notice numerous similarities to the Indy 500. Both are conducted on 2.5-mile ovals, both are 200 laps and both are 500 miles in length. Both events have more lead-up on the racetrack than any other race (Indianapolis is two weeks in duration, Daytona is 10 days) and a victory in either race can change a career.

There are differences, as well, and none bigger than the style of racing. Speeds at Indianapolis approach 220 mph in open-wheel, open-cockpit, rear-engine racecars that weigh about 1,600 pounds. Speeds at Daytona are in the 190-mph range in cars that weigh 3,400 pounds and look more like the standard street car with an enclosed driver compartment and the engine situated in front.

During the Indianapolis 500, cars tend to spread out a bit more with the majority of the passing taking place at the end of the 5/8-mile front and back straightaways. At Daytona over the years, it’s typical to see either one, long pack of cars circling the oval (restrictor-plate-style “pack” racing) or, in recent years since the repave of the facility in 2010, a two-car “tandem draft,” in which pairs of cars align themselves in a draft to make headway toward the front of the field together.

Whichever style of racing will be most prevalent at Daytona this year, it will be different than what Patrick was used to at Indianapolis. However, she has plenty of drafting experience, having competed in one Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) race and three NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Daytona. Both series are feeder systems to the premier Sprint Cup Series.

In her most recent outing at Daytona in July 2011, Patrick worked with Stewart in a two-car draft during the Nationwide Series race and led 13 of 100 laps en route to an impressive 10th-place finish.

While the focus at Daytona this month will be to gain experience and continue her stock-car education, Patrick and the Go Daddy team are still focused on winning. And, why not, when one considers that Trevor Bayne, making just his second Sprint Cup Series start and his first at Daytona, shocked the racing world by winning last year’s Daytona 500?

It’s been an incredible journey for Patrick since March 2005 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and she’s hoping another exciting chapter in her career begins not too far up the road at Daytona.