She’s back, and this time for good. Danica Patrick is now a full-time NASCAR driver, competing in the final three 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series races as she prepares to run the entire series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2012. In addition, she’ll run a limited schedule in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Texas will be her 10th start this year and her first since Kanas where she finished 15th.
Patrick has posted one top five and three top 10s in her previous nine races, including a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas that put her in the record books as the highest-finishing female in any NASCAR national series race.
Patrick finished 22nd last year at Texas in her series track debut. Heading to the 1.5-mile speedway this weekend her pre-race Driver Rating is 51.6 and her Average Running Position is 29th.
When she gets to Phoenix in two weeks – her city of residence – she’ll be running her third series race at the 1-mile track, her most starts at any NASCAR track other than Daytona. Patrick finished 32nd at Phoenix and 19th at Homestead to close out the 2010 season.
Patrick continues to improve each time out, her season-to-date Driver Rating is 79.9 and average finish is 16.1 – both better than last season’s average finish of 28.0 and a Driver Rating of 51.7.
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