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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
NNS: Patrick Faces Challenge After Indy Cars
Danica Patrick has spent the last week testing Indy cars...
Jeff Owens  | http://www.scenedaily.com  |  Posted February 27, 2010   Las Vegas, NV
Danica Patrick spent the week before the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas testing Indy cars at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

It has been a whirlwind week for Danica Patrick, who arrived at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday after a week of preseason testing for the Izod IndyCar Series, which she will return to after Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

The busy week didn’t even leave much time for Patrick and her JR Motorsports team to dissect and analyze last week’s dismal 31st-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in California.

“I tried to just forget about that one,” Patrick said Friday at LVMS.

Patrick, 27, is the only woman to win an IndyCar race. She is scheduled to run 13 NASCAR Nationwide Series races this year while also running the full, 18-race IndyCar schedule. This week was the first time that she has jumped into an Indy car the day after driving a stock car, and then hopping back into her stock car.

It was an interesting test for her, she said, but one she wasn’t able to draw much from.

“Getting into the Indy car again, just getting comfortable with how fast they are and the acceleration and downforce and how quick and snappy they are … unfortunately, I didn’t have a very good car, so I didn’t feel very comfortable,” she said. “There were times we made it better, but that didn’t last but one run.

“Then I come back here and we lowered the steering wheel and brought it toward me and tried to get it like all the other drivers have it, and I was freaking out because it was like I was driving on top of the car. I couldn’t see the steering wheel and it was so uncomfortable.

“I think it’s a little circumstantial. I’m sure there will be those first few laps where I’m like, ‘What have we got here,’ and then you settle in and it will be more like riding a bicycle.”

Patrick said her most difficult challenge right now is her hectic schedule. Hopping from one car to another and from one track to the next has left her little time to analyze her performance and prepare for the next race or practice.

“My life right now is just one day to the next,” she said. “I had to get ready for the IndyCar test so I started thinking about that and talking to my engineer about that, and then as soon as I got in last night, I started looking over the information for Vegas here.

“I don’t have the ability to really pre-plan too much or post-plan because I am gone every day or in a car every day, and I sure need a day off every now and then, so if I feel like taking a day or two off in the week, I will.”

Patrick was 23rd in Nationwide Series practice at Las Vegas Friday and is feeling better about things than she did last week, when she got lapped early at California.

“I think [crew chief] Tony [Eury] Jr. is starting to learn my style and the things that I need when I arrive at a track for the first time that give me confidence and allow me to drive a car hard into the corner,” she said.

“I’m pleased. … After last weekend and the way that we ran, in finishing 31st, I think this weekend we just think, let’s run in the top 25. We are inching up on it and I’m feeling much more comfortable than I did last weekend.”

After this weekend’s race, Patrick isn’t scheduled for another Nationwide race until June at New Hampshire International Speedway. She hopes to do plenty of stock-car testing while she’s racing in the IndyCar series.

“I’m sure we will try to replicate that track a little bit and go somewhere similar,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind if we tested all the time. As much testing as we can do, I’m up for it.”

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Jeff Owens

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