Question: This is the closest race to your hometown of Roscoe, Ill., closer than Chicagoland. Great to have you back. Finished as high as fourth in a Toyota Atlantic race and an IndyCar Series race here at the Mile. I’m sure it would be pretty cool to back up that big Japan win with a win close to home.
Danica Patrick: Yeah, absolutely. I always enjoy coming here to Milwaukee. I liked it back in my Formula Atlantic days. I can remember passing around the outside, thinking this is a good time. It was the only oval racing I had ever done. I have always liked coming here. I think that this track produces really good racing. You can go on the high line and keep more on the throttle, or you can go on the low line and be a shorter distance and lift more. It’s like it balances out very much. Our cars are much better in the racing situations on these flatter tracks.
Question: A 27-car field potentially on Sunday. A track like this accommodating that many cars, your thoughts of that big of a field here?
Danica Patrick: I think it’s going to make it that much more important to have your car dialed in for traffic. You’re going to have to play a smart race. You’re going to have to make sure you keep the car underneath you for the duration of the stints. But it’s going to be a matter of making it to the end because a lot goes on in these short ovals. We race pretty close. It’s just about being smart, being clean the first three-quarters of the race, racing to the end of it.
Question: How difficult is it putting last week behind you (and the run-in with Ryan Briscoe in the Indy 500) and how do you go about doing that?
Danica Patrick: You know, as a race car driver, I don’t know if any of us have that hard of a time with that. We go on to the next event. All we’re concerned about is performing at that next event and thinking how we’re going to do well and thinking about the car and the track. I mean, for myself, I definitely forget the weekend before pretty quickly. It’s not that difficult. It’s just kind of my nature. The nature of me just goes on to the next one. I think a lot of us drivers are probably the same. I can’t give you any scientific answer. I don’t do anything particular. It’s just getting excited. Especially a track you like, you’re that much more interested in it.
Question: Last time some of us saw you, you were very angry. How long did that last?
Danica Patrick: You know, adrenaline’s pumping. That usually lasts after every weekend, after every time you’re on the track in race situation, for an hour or two after. You’re adrenaline’s up. You’re thinking about it. You’re talking. You’re sort of debriefing the whole thing. That’s the same pretty much every weekend. Like the previous question, I’m quickly moving on to Milwaukee. That was that weekend; this is this weekend. As I said, I like coming here, so I’m really, really looking forward to it.
