Danica Relieved after Finding Speed to Qualify for Fast Nine Shootout
May 20, 2018 | By Jeff Olson, INDYCAR
In April, Danica Patrick stepped into a car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in seven years. She only got to 208 mph, then wondered if the Indy 500 might be out of reach.
Things changed in a matter of weeks.
In her farewell to racing, Patrick put herself in position to compete for the pole position for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil by finishing among the fast nine in the first day of qualifying Saturday for the May 27 race.
“This exceeded (expectations),” Patrick said after her four-lap average of 227.610 mph secured the ninth spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I have high expectations for doing well here. … But to think that I was going to come back and be in the fast nine right off the bat? I’m going to tell you, I was doing 208 at the test on the first day and thought, ‘I might not be able to do this.’”
The top nine drivers from Saturday’s qualifying session are secured positions in the Fast Nine Shootout qualifying Sunday, which determines the starting order for the first three rows of the race. Patrick can move up from her current position, but will start the race no worse than ninth.
“I definitely am relieved,” Patrick said after watching Alexander Rossi come up short in his effort to knock her out of the fast nine. “The tough thing is that I feel like there’s so much race running and not that much qual sim running (in practice) that it makes it hard to tell exactly where everyone really is at. It used to be easier back in the day when the whole first week was dedicated to qualifying. You really got a good feel for it. So there’s a little bit of a question about how fast people are, at least from my perspective.”
Patrick, 36, was the first woman to win an Indy car race when she prevailed at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan in 2008. She left the Verizon IndyCar Series after the 2011 season to compete in NASCAR. Late last year, she announced that the 2018 Daytona 500 would be her final NASCAR race and the 2018 Indy 500 would mark her retirement from racing.
In seven Indy 500s, Patrick started among the first three rows three times. In 2005, she finished fourth and was named the race’s Rookie of the Year. In 2009, she finished third. She also finished sixth in 2010 and eighth twice. In her seven previous appearances at Indy, she finished outside the top 10 only once.
During the first three days of practice this week, Patrick’s best lap – 224.570 mph – ranked 16th among the 35 drivers vying to make the 33-car field. On Friday, with the field given extra turbocharger boost for qualifying, she cranked it up to 228.284 mph. Among speeds without the aid of a tow, that ranked seventh best of the day.
Once she knew her speed in the No. 13 GoDaddy Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet was solid, Patrick turned her attention toward securing a Fast Nine Shootout position.
“I didn’t really know,” she said. “But after yesterday, having done 228 with three-quarters of the track ahead of me open, I got that feeling like: ‘All right. Let’s get in the top nine.’”
Because of the passage of time and the changes in cars since 2011, Patrick indicated that her experience in Indy cars might not be very significant. The Verizon IndyCar Series introduced a new universal aero kit this season, and regulars are continuing to adjust to its characteristics.
“I’m getting so old I can’t even remember,” Patrick said. “I mean, honestly, it’s been such a gap in time that coming back to downforce just feels the same to me. It’s hard to remember the finite details. I think a lot of people are dealing with new nuances with the car, just saying how it handled in the past in traffic versus now.
“I would say if anything it’s just really about getting the rhythm back with lift points and downshifts and upshifts, things like that. Little things that you can do in an Indy car that I wouldn’t have done in a stock car.”
Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves posted the fastest four-lap average of Saturday’s session, which was twice delayed because of rain. Others who qualified for the Fast Nine Shootout included Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Sebastien Bourdais, Spencer Pigot, Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon.
The starting order of the field is determined in Sunday qualifying, which streams on WatchESPN from 2:30-4 p.m. before ABC picks up the climactic end on national TV from 4-6 p.m. The Fast Nine portion of the qualifying – one four-lap run for each of the nine qualifiers – is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
The 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 airs live at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 27, on ABC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.