Motorola driver Danica Patrick appeared to be headed for a solid finish in her first outing with Andretti Green Racing Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but had to settle for a 14th place finish following a lap 154 spin while attempting to enter the pit lane.
Patrick started the XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 from the 13th position and dropped to as low as 16th while fighting an understeering race car. However, with adjustments made on each successive pit stop, Patrick and the #7 Motorola machine started to come to life as the race neared its halfway point. She moved into the top 10 just before the 100-lap mark and then battled for the seventh position for the next 50 laps before setting up for the finish.
The spin took place as Patrick prepared to enter the pit lane for her final stop and led to slight contact with the inside retaining wall that damaged the left front suspension, ending her night 46 laps from the finish.
Patrick and the rest of the IndyCar Series field heads to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the April 1st running of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The 100-lap race on the 1.8-mile downtown St. Petersburg street circuit airs live on ESPN next Sunday, with coverage beginning at 2:30 p. m. (EDT).
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m just so disappointed. I don’t make mistakes like that and I can’t believe it happened. I guess the law of averages should tell me that it’s possible. When you’re pushing 100 percent out there all the time, it is bound to catch up with you. I’m just glad it doesn’t happen very often. “
Kim Green, Race Strategist, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Danica is certainly a competitor, so she is disappointed for sure. She was trying hard; we knew the last pit stop was very critical for track position and we had a pretty fast car at that point. We made improvements to the car during the race and she used all the tools in the race car she had to try and balance the car. It wasn’t a perfect car, but she did the best with what she had. All in all, we’re all disappointed as much as Danica is. I thought we had a top-four or top-five car, so it would have been fun to have been in it at the end. ”
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