Danica Patrick Richmond Bound

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

When it comes to the history of Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, drivers at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) have played a role at one time or another.

SHR co-owner Tony Stewart scored his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at the .75-mile oval in September 1999 and has earned a total of three wins at the track.

Kevin Harvick first found his way to victory lane at Richmond in the September 2006 Sprint Cup race and has since earned two additional wins there.

Kurt Busch scored his first Sprint Cup Series win at Richmond in September 2005. In April he dominated the field en route to his second victory at the track.

While Stewart, Harvick and Busch have made their mark in the Sprint Cup Series, Danica Patrick’s success at Richmond thus far has come in the open-wheel ranks.

The IndyCar Series competed at Richmond from 2001 to 2009 and Patrick competed in five of those events. She finished sixth in 2007 and 2008 and then scored a fifth-place result in 2009.

Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for SHR, will make her sixth trip to Richmond in the Sprint Cup Series for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400. In last fall’s Sprint Cup race at the .75-mile oval, she started 13th and scored her best-ever finish at the track – a 16th-place effort.

While she knows her IndyCar experience at Richmond won’t assist her this weekend, she’s hoping to rekindle the early season success the team experienced at short tracks. In April, the GoDaddy team scored a seventh-place finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It was Patrick’s first Sprint Cup top-10 at a short track. Later that month at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, she earned her second top-10 of the season – a ninth-place run at the high-banked short track. The effort marked the sixth top-10 finish of Patrick’s Sprint Cup career, setting the record for the most top-10 finishes ever by a female in Sprint Cup competition.

As Sprint Cup teams head to the .75-mile Richmond oval this weekend, Patrick and her No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team will be looking to join their fellow SHR teammates in finding Sprint Cup success there.

TSC PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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