Patrick at Pocono

Our Lady in Green took on the Tricky Triangle for the first time in her career last weekend at Pocono Raceway. What was first thought to be a great weekend for Patrick started out to be another great learning experience.

Patrick was running near the top-20 in the closing laps of the race but ended the day in 29th after getting shuffled back during the final restarts.

“The guys gave me a good GoDaddy Chevrolet,” Patrick said in a press release. “We just got shuffled back at the end on the restarts. It’s disappointing because we could have had a much better finish. It’s just part of the process, learning how to get better on restarts, especially at the end of races. That’s where you can really gain a lot of spots.”

Patrick’s 29th place finish moved her to 28th in point standing, up two spots from the week before.

This weekend, the series heads to Michigan. Patrick will make her first Sprint Cup Series start at the track, but this is far from her first visit; she has two Nationwide Series starts and three IZOD IndyCar starts at Michigan.

Patrick is hoping that the Irish Hills of Michigan will be kind to her this weekend as she put her GoDaddy Chevrolet tires on the track for the first time on Friday as she continues her pursuit in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“I think that people have been really understanding of the fact that this is a learning curve and coming from IndyCar is a totally different place. I feel like that’s been actually very publicized by (the media), that there is going to be time needed to see that through,” Patrick said in a press conference last weekend. “There are a lot of times that my crew chief (Tony Gibson) wants to remind me that I am doing a good job and that this is the first year, not only in Cup, but my second full time in stock cars. But I have high expectation levels, so I don’t think it’s a bad quality to have.”

Patrick’s goal this weekend is to improve on her intermediate track performance and is hoping Michigan will be just the place to do that.

“Michigan is a wide, fast track. There’s lots of room to move around and try different lines. The intermediate tracks have been a struggle for us this year, but I think we’re improving as a team overall at SHR and I think I’m improving, as well,” she said. “Our goals are the same as they are every week – to improve on qualifying and to race better. The GoDaddy crew has worked really hard, especially in the last month. We’ve tested a lot, and that means extra days on the road for everyone. I can’t thank the guys enough for their efforts. They’ve really put in a ton of work, and it would be nice to see that work pay off.”

Earlier this week, the racing world lost one of their own, Jason Leffler, when he was killed in a wreck during the heat race at a dirt track in New Jersey. Danica Patrick released a statement regarding the devastating news:

“I was very sad to hear of Jason’s passing. He was a good guy and a good racecar driver. He was a successful driver for a long time. My thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family and friends, especially his son, Charlie.”