Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) earned their 13th top-20 finish of the season by scoring a 16th-place result in Sunday’s rain-shortened Race for Heroes 500k at Phoenix International Raceway.
After a delay of more than six hours due to rain, Patrick started the event from the 21st position and raced her way up to 18th by the time NASCAR issued a competition caution at lap 40. Patrick brought the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and fuel, but when NASCAR cited the team for the crew members being over the wall too soon, the penalty put Patrick at the tail of the field in the 29th position for the lap-48 restart.
Patrick went down a lap to the leader on the ensuing long, green-flag run. Crew chief Daniel Knost called for a scheduled four-tire pit stop at lap 122. The No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet team was scored in the 26th position once green-flag stops cycled through.
When the caution flag waved again in the middle of green-flag pit stops at lap 195, Knost called Patrick to pit road for four tires and fuel. The team also made a wedge adjustment and added a piece of tape over one of the brake ducts. Patrick rejoined the field in the 16th position. As the field continued under caution, rain began to fall. NASCAR brought the cars down pit road as the rain intensified. After a heavy downpour, the race was deemed official and Patrick was credited with a 16th-place finish.
“The GoDaddy Chevrolet was decent tonight,” Patrick said. “It got tight in the center of the corner and seemed to be better later in the run. The pit road penalty definitely hurt us, but we were able to come back and get a solid finish.”
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