Danica Patrick First Woman to Win Daytona 500 Pole

posted by Pretty Tough
Monday, February 18, 2013 at 9:03am EST

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By winning the Daytona 500 pole today, Danica Patrick became the first woman to win the top spot for any race in NASCAR’s premier circuit. Clocking in at 45.817 seconds, averaging 196.434 mph, today’s achievement is the biggest of Patrick’s stock-car career.

Jeff Gordon was the only one to come close at 196 mph even. After the race he said: ”It’s great to be part of history, I can say I was the fastest guy today.” Patrick’s speed was 33 thousandths of a second faster than Gordon’s.

Most importantly, Patrick’s run today means she doesn’t have to worry about Thursday’s qualifying races. Patrick, who is running full-time in the Sprint Cup Series for the first time in 2013, was potentially at risk of missing the race with a poor performance on Thursday.

Patrick seems to be starting the season off on the right foot. Hopefully she can get the big win this year that fans have been waiting for. Win or lose, her qualifying effort guarantees to keep her in the spotlight this week as NASCAR fans gear up for for the most famous race of the season.

With so much of the media attention in the past few weeks on Patrick’s relationship with fellow driver and Rookie of the Year contender Ricky Stenhouse, it’s nice to see the attention she’s getting based on her success on the track.

Despite lots of talk to the contrary, Patrick has proved she’s the real deal. Now, let’s see if she can capitalize on today’s record-breaking performance.

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There are 4 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

michaelharper696 says:

She might be a force in racing . Even thuogh she did not finish , it was great to have her competiting . She will return !

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 7:02pm EST

Crimson says:

Not sure what race you watched. She finished eighth.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 11:10am EST

womentalksports says:

@Crimson this post refers to the race for the Daytona pole - not the actually race (where she did indeed place 8th)

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 9:31pm EST

michaelharper696 says:

Sorry I did not myself clear !

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 11:15pm EST

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