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Danica Patrick: It's 'miserable' running in 20th place
Danica Patrick wants to be running better in the Sprint Cup Series. And she knows that progress will come in steps rather than all at once.
Patrick is currently 24th in the standings through the first 19 races of 2016. It’s the same position in the points she occupied in 2015 after finishing 27th in 2013 and 28th in 2014.
She’s working with a new crew chief in Billy Scott this season and hasn’t finished in the top 10 yet this season after six top-10 finishes in her first three full seasons. Saturday, Patrick was asked about improving on her performance throughout the final 16 races of the year as just four of the races are at tracks where the Cup Series hasn’t visited earlier in the year.
“We don’t really get that many shots at making the car that much better when we get there,” Patrick said. “It’s more about optimizing what you have. So, hopefully that will be a good second-half of the season for us to have that foundation established between rules, crew chief, me; and I know that none of us are happy running 20th. I’m not. It’s miserable. So, we want to do better.”
Patrick also conceded that running in the top 15 was like a top-five finish at the moment. While she hasn’t finished in the top 10, she finished 13th at Dover in May and 14th last week at New Hampshire. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Brickyard 400, Patrick’s best finish in three races is 27th. She finished in the top 10 in six of her seven Indianapolis 500 starts in her time in the IndyCar Series.
“Do I miss running in the Top 5? Of course I do,” Patrick said. “Especially for casual fans, it’s very easy to understand. But a Top 5 for me now is a Top 15 right now. And it’s just different. In stock car racing there’s so many more cars and there’s so much that goes into it and there’s so many of these guys who have just been at it for so long. Especially with my lack of stock car experience before I jumped into it, I didn’t start off racing dirt. I didn’t start off in Late Models and things like that and work my way up. The car itself is challenging. It’s a work in progress and I think that at any point in time, when everything is right, it can be a breakthrough and a great result. By great, it’s a Top 10; maybe a Top 5.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
