CUP: Patrick Makes History With Daytona 500 Pole

Danica Patrick becomes first woman to lead qualifying in Sprint Cup Series…

Mike Hembree | Posted February 17, 2013 Daytona Beach, FL

Danica Patrick will lead the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 from the pole slot.

Call her Daytona Danica. And call her work historic.

After a week in which her romantic relationship with fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has led the news at Daytona International Speedway, Danica Patrick turned the talk – and it was loud – to racing Sunday by winning the pole position for the Daytona 500.

Patrick, qualifying early in the session and technically a series rookie, was clocked at 196.434 miles per hour, running one of the fastest restrictor-plate time-trial laps in Daytona history. The bigger timeline moment, however, is this one – she is the first female pole winner in the history of NASCAR’s top series, dating to 1949.

And she did it in qualifying for NASCAR’s biggest race.

“I appreciate the recognition, but I think it falls 90 percent on Tony (crew chief Tony Gibson) and his guys who give me the cars and maybe 10 percent on me,” Patrick said. “I think it shows how well-prepared Tony and everybody was and how strong the Hendrick engines are and how good the new [Chevrolet] SS is.”

Gibson disagreed, saying, “We gave her a great product and she took it the rest of the way.”

The pole carries no promise of success – the last 500 pole winner to also win the race was Dale Jarrett in 2000, but it’s worth a week of publicity. And, in Patrick’s case, that can be doubled or tripled. The media storm will be immense. Only minutes after the pole win became official, her Monday schedule already was being reworked.

Only a handful of women have raced in the Cup series. Prior to Patrick’s Sunday run, the best qualifying effort – ninth – by a woman had been posted by Janet Guthrie in 1977.

Every driver will confess that qualifying at Daytona is mostly about the car, but that does not diminish Patrick’s achievement. She outran some of NASCAR’s top guns – Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne, among others – to sit atop the sport for a day.

“They’ve got good stuff over there for her, and Tony is really good at what he does,” said Eddie Wood, co-owner of the Wood Brothers team. “She’s going to run better than people think this year, not just here but everywhere during the season. She’s not going to be top five or top 10 all that often, but she’s going to be good – a solid top-15 driver. She might even give Ricky Stenhouse a run for his money.”

Gordon, who described himself as Sunday’s “fastest guy,” was second to Patrick Sunday. The top two spots are locked in for the 500.

“I’m proud to be part of the history and to be on the front row with Danica,” Gordon said. “We all know how popular she is and what this will do for our sport.”

The rest of the 500 grid will be filled by the results of Thursday’s qualifying races, time-trial speeds and provisionals.

Completing the top five Sunday were Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart, giving Stewart-Haas Racing three of the top five spots.

“I’m really proud today more than anything,” Stewart said. “I’m very appreciative of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and the Hendrick engine and chassis departments for all the work they’ve put forth to get ready for Daytona. This was probably one of the most difficult winters I can remember from my 15 years of going thru off-seasons here.”

As for Patrick’s run, Stewart said, “She runs so smooth. She runs such a smooth line, and that’s what you have to do here to carry speed.”

Stewart jokingly described Gibson as Danica’s “second boyfriend” because they have been together so much.

In the second five Sunday were Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 11th.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Mike Hembree

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