Patrick Scores Top-15 Finish at Monster Mile

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), finished 15th in Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The effort marked Patrick’s career-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish in six starts at the Monster Mile.

After starting the race in the 33rd position, Patrick raced her way into the top-25 by lap 95 and was racing as high as 23rd before she received slight damage from an accident, not of her own fault, on lap 176. The team was forced to pit due to the grill separating from the nose of the No. 10 Chevrolet. This unscheduled stop landed the team one lap down.

Crew chief Daniel Knost’s pit strategy paid off on lap 260 when, instead of pitting under green one lap earlier, the team decided to stay out for an additional lap, at which time the caution-flag flew and Patrick found herself back on the lead lap. Patrick pitted under the caution, and changes were made to attempt to free up her Chevy SS. The changes worked, and Patrick quickly began gaining track positions once the race went back to green.

The GoDaddy team was up to 13th on lap 270 and racing forward. Patrick’s Chevy SS tightened slightly as it raced through traffic, and she settled into a top-14 spot until her next green-flag pit stop on lap 307. After pitting, Patrick fell back to 27th. But as the other racecars cycled through a long pit cycle, she worked her way forward, running in the top-20 by lap 356 and maintaining track position for the next 30 laps.

When the caution came on lap 387, Patrick was racing in the 17th position. She passed two additional cars and raced her way into the top-15 in a green-white-checkered finish.

“I’m proud of our GoDaddy Chevrolet team,” Patrick said. “We all stuck together and dug deep. It was a challenging race, but we made the most out of each situation. We have a ways to go still, but everyone on our crew did a good job. We had good pit stops and made strides through the race. We win or lose as a team, and this top-15 finish was a total team effort. I’m confident we can build on this heading into the next few races.”

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