The IndyCar star is moving to NASCAR full time next season and will run a limited Cup schedule in a car owned by Tony Stewart.He expects her to struggle at most of the tracks where she’ll race, making a Daytona debut even more attractive.“I think it would be a good start,” she said Thursday. “It would be nice if the Sprint Cup debut was at a track where I have the opportunity to finish well, especially given the idea that we’re going to go to tracks that are going to be challenging and probably ones that I’ll do the worst at, but I don’t know yet.”
Stewart, who was at an appearance with sponsor Office Depot in Richmond, Va., said in a phone interview that he has looked at having her run the sport’s biggest race of the season, but hasn’t decided yet if she will. He said he worked with Patrick in a two-car draft during a Nationwide Series race at Daytona in July, and said “she ran really, really well all day there.”
Stewart, who was at an appearance with sponsor Office Depot in Richmond, Va., said in a phone interview that he has looked at having her run the sport’s biggest race of the season, but hasn’t decided yet if she will. He said he worked with Patrick in a two-car draft during a Nationwide Series race at Daytona in July, and said “she ran really, really well all day there.”
For the second time this season, the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series cars will be racing on a Saturday night, under the lights. The series
makes its first of two visits to Richmond International Raceway. The importance
of this race goes further than just this weekend.Richmond
is the sight of the final race of the regular season for the Sprint Cup Series,
so a lot of drivers can use this first race as a test race for that all
important event in September
The last four races at this track have been won by the Joe
Gibbs Racing duo of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Hamlin has taken the
last two
September races while Busch is the two time defending winner of this
event.That instantly makes these two the favorites for this
weekend. In 10 starts at Richmond,
Hamlin has the two wins and a total of six top-10 finishes. Only once in
those
10 starts has Hamlin finished worse than 15th.For as successful as
Hamlin has been at Richmond, Busch has been even more productive.
He has made 12 starts at the one-mile race track. He has scored two wins
and
has 10 top-10 finishes. More impressively, all 10 of Busch's top-10's at
Richmond resulted in
finishes inside the top 5.
While those two drivers should be considered the two heavy
favorites, there are a few other drivers who could have strong runs this
weekend.Jimmie Johnson is always a favorite regardless of what track
the series stops at. Richmond
however has been hit or miss for the five time defending series champion. In 18
starts, he has three wins, but just six top-10's in total.Don't let the numbers fool you, though, Johnson has to be
considered one of the favorites, regardless of what his previous statistics
would lead you to believe.Jeff Gordon has also found success at Richmond. He has scored two wins here and has
finished in the top-10 in 23 out of his 36 career starts. Seven out of his last
eight starts here have resulted in top-10 finishes, while the only other finish
was still a respectable 12th place effort.
The other two strong favorites would be two Richard
Childress Racing teammates, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer.Harvick has had as much success at Richmond as anyone in recent years. For his
career, he has won there once, with 13 top-10 finishes in 20 starts. Recent history has seen Harvick score 11 top-10 finishes in
his last 12 starts. He is also the only driver with multiple wins this season.
