Patrick concerned about Daytona qualifying

Danica Patrick admits qualifying for the Daytona 500 is no guarantee

(Editor's note: Numerous drivers have admitted they are concerned about qualifying for this year's Daytona 500, given the removal of the top-35 provisionals, and new group qualifying. You might remember last fall at Talladega, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. failed to qualify for the Geico 500. In this Sporting News article, Stenhouse's girlfriend Danica Patrick admits she is concerned about the possibility of missing the race.)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Danica Patrick was thrust into the national spotlight in 2013 when she won the pole for the Daytona 500 as a Sprint Cup rookie.

Two years later, Patrick is worried about just making the race going into this year's Daytona 500.

She backed up her strong qualifying run in 2013 with an eighth-place finish in the race after running in the top five all day.

She was expected to carry that speed back to Daytona and Talladega — the other restrictor-plate track — last year, but it didn't happen. Patrick qualified 27th and 29th for the two Daytona races last year, finishing 40th in the 500 after a wreck and eighth again in the July race.

Her biggest nightmare, though, occurred at Talladega in October, when NASCAR implemented its new group qualifying format for the first time for a restrictor-plate race, where drafting is crucial.

Like many drivers, Patrick couldn't find drafting partners and got caught up in the mind games created by the new format and qualified 27th. Frustrated at the way the qualifying session played out, it could have been worse. She watched boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fail to make the Talladega race.

Now NASCAR has implemented the new group qualifying format for the Daytona 500. Instead of the traditional single-lap runs, drivers will attempt to go out in packs and draft their way around the track, hoping to turn a speed fast enough to lock themselves into the race.

But with the fiasco that played out at Talladega, Patrick admits she's worried about making the race.

"I am worried about qualifying," she said Thursday at NASCAR Media Day. "It didn't go well at Talladega and I don't see how it is going to go any different here at Daytona, especially since at Talladega they saw how little time we had left in the five-minute session and (drivers) waited even longer (to go out). You would have thought they would have gotten in a big group and hauled butt and all been faster than most of us in the first group, but they didn't.

"I don't have any reason to think it is going to be any different, other than maybe people will be more encouraged to actually work together and stick with the plan. It's luck of the draw."

Daytona 500 qualifying, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sunday, will set the front row for the 500 and the field for the Budweiser Duel qualifying races next Thursday. Though drivers can still race their way into the field through the qualifying races, Sunday's session is important because speed could play a factor in who makes the field for drivers who have a poor run or trouble during the duels.

Stenhouse says he, too, is worried about qualifying, especially after missing the race last October at Talladega.

"Yeah, I'm definitely worried about qualifying. I don't think anybody was really worried about it until the fiasco at Talladega," he said. "So I think everybody will approach it a little bit different. I don't think anybody will be hanging around and waiting and trying to get a good lap. I think everybody is going to go out there and basically race for five minutes and see where you stack up.

"You are really going to have to be on your game for this qualifying session. It probably will be the most nerve-wracking qualifying session you are ever going to have."

Patrick says finding someone to draft with and picking the right time to go out will be crucial under the new system. NASCAR used single-lap runs when she won the pole in 2013.

"For a speedway situation in qualifying like that, it's always the effort to find people to go draft with," she said. "It's just a matter of how many follow through with it and actually do it. Maybe people will stick with the plan a little more."

One driver Patrick believes she can count in in the draft is Stenhouse, her boyfriend who also is concerned about qualifying after missing the race at Talladega last year.

"I don't think that's something that we plan but I don't think you plan it with anyone outside your team anyway," she said. "… It's a matter of whether or not you get along and respect each other and want to ride around with another driver and, of course, I would ride around with Ricky. I know he's not going to take me out intentionally."