Patrick has only one gift victory to show for in entire career

She is the biggest star in American motorsports yet she has only one somewhat lucky victory in her entire career, such is the sad state of racing as a sport in the USA.

Danica Patrick’s first reaction to hearing that this weekend marks the fifth anniversary of her lone IndyCar victory was, “Oh, geez, is it really five years?" Patrick said Friday at Kansas Speedway.

“That makes me feel kind of bad. … Five years ago? Meh. It’s time to do it again."

With the help of some fuel-mileage strategy, Patrick won on the Twin Ring Motegi oval in a race few in the United States watched as it ended in the wee hours of the morning April 20, 2008.

She ran another 65 races in the IndyCar Series without a win. Now a full-time NASCAR drivers, Patrick has 59 career Nationwide starts and 17 career Cup starts without a victory.

“There were a lot of years in IndyCar that were really strong and then there were some that weren’t — the ones that weren’t strong were towards the end," Patrick said.

“Just like in this series, as it is in IndyCar, you need to have the right situation going on and you have to have a fast car."

“It’s just a matter of making the car comfortable enough. … The harder you go, the more things you unveil about the car," Patrick said before getting a little bit sarcastic.

“It’s just a matter of going in deeper, losing less brake and getting on (the gas) harder. It’s that simple."

Montegi had to seem a long, long time ago from practice Friday.

“It’s still a happy memory," she said. “It’s still my one win in IndyCar. It was a long time ago. It was a good feeling, and I’d like to get that feeling back."