As NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams return to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race, Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team are ready to return to the short track where they earned a top-10 finish earlier this season.
Patrick has raced six times at Bristol in the Sprint Cup Series and has steadily improved her performance at the track. She finished 29th there in just her fourth Sprint Cup race in August 2012, but that was hampered by an accident not of her making.
She started 43rd after qualifying was rained out, then calmly moved her way through the field. She was in the top-20 and on the lead lap with 66 laps remaining when her car was hit by another and contacted the SAFER Barrier on the inside retaining wall of the frontstretch.
Patrick finished 28th in March 2013 and then 26th that August. Last year, she finished 18th in April and ended up 27th in the August event at the track.
When Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy team visited Bristol for this year’s Food City 500 in March, she started 26th and overcame a number of hurdles during the race to score a ninth-place finish. That effort marked the sixth top-10 of her career and set the record for the most top-10 finishes of any female in Sprint Cup competition.
Earlier in her NASCAR career, Patrick also experienced steady improvement in the Xfinity Series at Bristol as she finished 33rd in her first race, 19th in the second and a career-best ninth in her final race in August 2012.
Last month, Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy team participated in a one-day, open NASCAR test at Bristol preparing for this weekend’s race. Following their success in April and added experience from the test, Patrick and her team are ready to go back to Bristol this weekend in hopes of taking home another top-10 run.
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