Danica Patrick Hitting Milestones but Managing Expectations

On Sunday, Patrick was both.

In her second Daytona 500, Patrick, the first woman to start on the pole in a Sprint Cup race, raced with the leaders all day long at 200 miles per hour, notching yet another milestone along the way by becoming the first woman to lead laps in a race in Nascar’s top series.

Patrick even had a shot at the victory. She was in third place heading into the final lap before being shuffled back in a last-lap scramble. Still, Patrick finished a respectable eighth. Among those who drove away impressed was the five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who won Sunday’s race.

“Well, she’s really comfortable in the car,” Johnson said Sunday night. “Being close to other competitors, door to door, whatever environment takes place on the racetrack, at these speeds, she was very comfortable. Held a great wheel. Was smooth and predictable. Took advantage of runs when she had them.

“She did a really good job,” he added. “It was just another car on the track. I didn’t think about it being Danica in the car. It was just another car on the track that was fast. That’s a credit to her and the job she’s doing.”

How big was that performance? Fox drew an overnight rating of 10 and a 22 share, up 30 percent from last year, when the Daytona 500 was run on a Monday night because of rain, and up 22 percent from an 8.2 rating in 2011, when it was run on Sunday.

This year’s overnight rating is the best since 2006, when the race was shown on NBC. And with Patrick racing with the leaders in the final laps, the rating rose to 12.8 with a 26 share from 4:30 to 4:45 p.m.

After the race, Patrick was still lamenting that last lap and what might have been.

“I would imagine that pretty much anyone would kick themselves and say what could I have, should I have done to give myself that opportunity to win,” Patrick said. “So I feel like maybe that’s just my inexperience. Maybe that’s me not thinking hard enough. I don’t know. Getting creative enough. I’m not sure. I definitely was a little uncertain how I was going to be able to do it.”

Patrick has shown an affinity for racing at superspeedways, Nascar’s biggest tracks, and will have a chance to prove that her finish at Daytona was no fluke when the series heads to Talladega, Ala., in May. Until then, Patrick will have much to prove on the shorter ovals on the circuit.

The expectations are not going to be quite the same.

“I think the style of racetrack really suits her,” Johnson said of Daytona. “When we get to the other tracks, she has a tall learning curve ahead of her.”

Even though she finished a respectable 17th at Phoenix International Raceway last November in a Cup car, she has no illusions that she will be a regular in the top 10 this season as the series heads back there for a race on Sunday.

“I think that would be unwise to sort of start telling myself that top 10 is where we need to be every week,” Patrick said. “I think that’s setting up for failure. The list of drivers in the Cup series is deep.

“I feel like I’m sticking to: let’s see how these first five races go, where we go to a bunch of different kinds of tracks. See where we settle in, start to establish goals from there on out.”

Of course, Patrick does not have to win races to have an impact in Nascar.

“She did an incredible job today, as well as an incredible job a number of times last year,” said Mark Martin, who has been racing in the Cup series since 1981. “There will be more of that to come. And it will be good for the sport.”

But that does not necessarily mean she will always be good for the drivers. The top three finishers Sunday were all asked questions about Patrick’s performance. And as Johnson embarks on a news media tour this week, he will no doubt have to share the spotlight as he is asked about her again.