The LA Times reported on Feb. 18, 2013, that in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 500 , Danica Patrick will start from the pole position.
She is the first woman to win a pole in NASCAR’s premier division. The team owner Tony Stewart was certainly impressed by his rookie.
Patrick, 30, admitted to being nervous during the race and tried not to steer from line. Stewart-Haas Racing had purchased the owners points from No. 49 team, securing Patrick’s position in the 2013 Daytona 500. On the whole, the Stewart-Haas Racing team took first, fourth and fifth spots on the speed chart.
Patrick had last year made her Cup debut at Daytona International Speedway and NASCAR debut in 2010.
She had occupied the pole during the season-opener at Daytona for the Nationwide Series race last year.
On Sunday, she repeated the feat with a lap of 196.434 mph. Patrick scored her first top-five finish in 2011 by taking fourth spot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
She ended 2011 with the best finish ever by a female driver in NASCAR’s top three touring divisions.
Patrick, who used to drive the IndyCar felt that then it was about the shorter distance but in cars like Chevrolet SS, she felt like being at terminal velocity for the whole lap and she didn’t want to scrub too much speed, and the car was so much heavier to get going again making it different from her usual.
Four-time Cup champion, Jeff Gordon, who had recorded the second-fastest lap, appreciated Patrick saying that he is proud to be on the front row with Danica.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/danica-patrick-wins-daytona-500-pole-position?cid=roadrunner