It was an unglamorous afternoon in Danica Patrick’s rock-star life. She raced only a handful of laps, often on the track by herself. Her crew, in fact, spent much of its time just making adjustments to her car. And at one point, when the 112,029-seat stadium was most crowded, only 10 fans sat in the grandstand.
But for Patrick, it may have been the most important afternoon leading up to the IndyCar Series’s SunTrust Indy Challenge on June 28 at Richmond International Raceway.
“All this testing is very, very useful,” said Patrick. “It helps you to be on when you come to the track. When we come to the track in a couple of weeks you’ll be already on Lap 100 or something. You’ll be very comfortable. And it helps the team be able to have a good set-up to start with so we can progress from the first practice.”
“The short ovals have proved to be definitely challenging,” she said. “You really need to be comfortable, confident.”
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