Bobby Gearhart won his sixth ARCA 200 at Daytona Beach, but was overshadowed by the stock car debut of Danica Patrick who finished sixth.
When the winner was asked what he thought of her he joked “did I miss something,” but added gratefully, “it brought some very well needed attention to this series. They [the competitors] raced their guts out.”
“It didn’t look like it was going to end this way, but we must have hit it right. That thing was a rocket. It was our strategy to pit under 10 (laps). We were doing everything we could and it worked. Our calculations said we could go 60 laps,” the winner added.
Again, with racers humor, he laughed, “I did notice a large group of media standing outside her trailer. I thought it was for me.” In fact some people joked the track should be called “Danicatona.”
Mark Thompson finished second followed by John Wes Townley.
Patrick, who started 12th, survived a bump from ex-Formula One driver, Nelson Piquet Jr., who was involved in crash-gate - perhaps the series biggest scandal, sending her spinning in the grass when she was sixth. The race had a red flag stoppage but no one was seriously injured.
After straightening out her car, and finding no damage, Patrick was ready to race again. Driving like a veteran, she finally worked her way up again to finish sixth at the high-banked Daytona International Speedway on Friday evening.
Laughing with a youthful exuberance, and a little exaggeration, she bubbled after the race adding, “I was pretty excited to go from last back to the top five,” but ARCA, a regional stock car series using NASCAR-type cars, officials scored her sixth in the 80-lap race.
Excited by her results she added, “that was fun; I was going side-by-side with people... My car doesn’t look very pretty [from the dents and scrapes from stock car fender rubbing racing], but it was fun!”
Piquet Jr. finshed 27th, some 13 laps behind the leaders.
Patrick, who is heading to Miami to watch the SuperBowl, has yet to make a decision to make her NASCAR debut here next Saturday.
However, she has confirmed her participation to the Nationwide race at Auto Club Speedway, in two weeks.
photo:Éric Gilbert/Motorsport.com
When the winner was asked what he thought of her he joked “did I miss something,” but added gratefully, “it brought some very well needed attention to this series. They [the competitors] raced their guts out.”
“It didn’t look like it was going to end this way, but we must have hit it right. That thing was a rocket. It was our strategy to pit under 10 (laps). We were doing everything we could and it worked. Our calculations said we could go 60 laps,” the winner added.
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Again, with racers humor, he laughed, “I did notice a large group of media standing outside her trailer. I thought it was for me.” In fact some people joked the track should be called “Danicatona.”
Mark Thompson finished second followed by John Wes Townley.
Patrick, who started 12th, survived a bump from ex-Formula One driver, Nelson Piquet Jr., who was involved in crash-gate - perhaps the series biggest scandal, sending her spinning in the grass when she was sixth. The race had a red flag stoppage but no one was seriously injured.
After straightening out her car, and finding no damage, Patrick was ready to race again. Driving like a veteran, she finally worked her way up again to finish sixth at the high-banked Daytona International Speedway on Friday evening.
Laughing with a youthful exuberance, and a little exaggeration, she bubbled after the race adding, “I was pretty excited to go from last back to the top five,” but ARCA, a regional stock car series using NASCAR-type cars, officials scored her sixth in the 80-lap race.
Excited by her results she added, “that was fun; I was going side-by-side with people... My car doesn’t look very pretty [from the dents and scrapes from stock car fender rubbing racing], but it was fun!”
Piquet Jr. finshed 27th, some 13 laps behind the leaders.
Patrick, who is heading to Miami to watch the SuperBowl, has yet to make a decision to make her NASCAR debut here next Saturday.
However, she has confirmed her participation to the Nationwide race at Auto Club Speedway, in two weeks.
photo:Éric Gilbert/Motorsport.com
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