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Filed under: IRL

TORONTO (AP) -- Will Power knew when to be aggressive and when to play it safe Sunday in the wreck-filled Honda Indy Toronto.

After patiently avoiding early trouble, the IndyCar leader boldly passed Justin Wilson on the outside off a restart with 14 laps left, then held off Dario Franchitti for his second straight victory and fourth of the season,

"As I predicted, it was a very wild race," Power said. "It started on the first corner for me when I had Helio (Castroneves) and (Ryan) Hunter-Reay come cruising up the inside. I was like, `OK, I'll let those guys go.' And then I lost a couple of more positions. But I know how this race goes."The key for me when I came to this race was avoiding carnage and accidents, which I know happens every year, and like I said, in the first corner, that right there could have been the finish if I'd just turned in. But I backed off."

Power then gambled and won with the race on the line, moving past Wilson on the outside on the first turn after the fifth of sixth caution periods. Power pulled away, while Wilson spun out moments later and dropped from contention.

 

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Filed under: Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

JOLIET, Ill. -- One ESPN television interview and three questions into an impromptu second pit road media question-and-answer session, Danica Patrick glanced over right shoulder and subtly motioned for water.

It wasn't a demanding wave, but more of a pass-me-the-water-while-I-listen gesture.

Hardly missing a beat, her public relations representative, standing between Patrick and her car, unscrewed the white cap from a small Aquafina bottle and passed it to the queen of open wheel racing and now stock car crossover. Two gulps later, she was on to the next question.

Such was the pace of Patrick's Friday in NASCAR country at Chicagoland Speedway -- just her fifth venture into the unknown, yet attractive world of racing with fenders. A long day, certainly, as NASCAR had packed Nationwide practice, qualifying and the race into a one-day show.

The extended day would prove to be her best, as the neon green, black-and-orange No. 7 crossed the finish line in 24th place, two laps behind winner Kyle Busch, under Chicagoland's lights. The finish topped her previous best, a 30th-place finish at New Hampshire.

 

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Filed under: Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) -- Even Kyle Busch acknowledged that his landmark victory in Friday's NASCAR Nationwide series race at Chicagoland Speedway probably wouldn't have happened if not for Brad Keselowski's costly mistake.

With Joey Logano out front and an overtime restart looming, Keselowski ran out of gas just before the green flag fell. Busch was able to move closer to Logano, then pounced on the restart and held on for the win.

"I don't think I would have had a shot to win the race, because it was going to take too much to get alongside Joey had the restart gone with Keselowski in place," Busch said.

It was Busch's 37th victory in NASCAR's second-tier series, moving him into sole possession of second place in the series' career wins list. Only Mark Martin has more, with 48.

Toyotas swept the top five spots as Logano finished second, followed by Brian Scott, David Reutimann and Jason Leffler.

Danica Patrick finished 24th, her first finish inside the top 30 in five Nationwide races this season. Patrick was two laps behind the leaders at the finish.

 

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, NASCAR

Consider this an interruption to the quick judgments, harsh opinions and commentary overload about Danica Patrick's NASCAR debut.

As IndyCar's most famous face prepares to make her fifth NASCAR start this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway -- near her hometown of Roscoe, Ill. -- it's time to step back from all the emotion and hype.

Forget her $1,000 gold-stilettos, police escorts and the unapologetic adulation of NASCAR executives and track promoters. Let's look at her statistics driving a NASCAR race car.

Patrick's four-race average of a 33rd place finish in the Nationwide Series may be an easy target for those told-you-so doubters, but it's absolutely respectable compared to other recent open-wheel NASCAR converts. And even some NASCAR champions.

Her NASCAR Nationwide Series team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., for example, either crashed or had mechanical problems in three of his first four Nationwide races during the 1996-97 seasons, including a string of 39th, 39th and 38th place showings after his 14th place debut. That's an average finish of 32.5, or less than one position better than Patrick.

Danica Patrick's NASCAR Debut on Par With Dale Earnhardt Jr., Other Stars originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:13:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

LOUDON, N.H. -- The NASCAR education of Danica Patrick continued Saturday with a hard-knocks 30th place finish -- five laps down to winner Kyle Busch -- in the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It was a day of frustration, tough lessons and small accomplishments for the IZOD IndyCar Series starlet, whose effort Saturday is actually her best showing in four Nationwide Series starts.

It didn't feel like that for Patrick, however. She spent most of the day mired in the back of the pack carefully avoiding the race leaders as a dominant Kyle Busch led 126 laps to become the all-time laps leader in Nationwide Series history.

Patrick brought out the first caution of the day only eight laps into the race -- spinning out after a collision with veteran Morgan Shepherd. Frustrated, she radioed to her crew, "He totally took me out." And then later asked, "Doesn't he get some sort of penalty for that?''

On the ensuing restart and again as cars parked on pit road after the race, Patrick handed out her own justice -- driving her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet into Shepherd's rear bumper to let him know she didn't appreciate the run-in.

"I obviously got dumped in the first corner,'' Patrick said. "It's hard to recover from that. ... but I guess that's racing.''

 

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Filed under: Nationwide Series, IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

LOUDON, N.H. -- Danica Patrick left the mandatory rookie driver meeting and happily strolled to her race car in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway garage Friday morning, where about 15 photographers, three television camera crews and a crowd of star-struck NASCAR fans greeted her smiling face.

Two of her competitors this weekend, racing brothers Mike and Kenny Wallace were waiting to ask her to pose with them for a photograph by her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

After the hour-long Nationwide Series opening practice -- in which Patrick was 43rd slowest of 44 cars -- she dutifully answered reporters questions in a standing room only news conference -- the only one of the day attended by track owner Bruton Smith.

After the formal question-and-answer period, track General Manager Jerry Gappens presented Patrick with a pair of $1,000 designer Yves Saint Laurent high heels -- 4-inch gold stilettos -- as a "thank you" gesture for picking the New Hampshire oval as one of the 13 Nationwide Series venues she'll compete at this year.

Welcome back, Danica. NASCAR really, really, really missed you.

 

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Danica Patrick is riding three IndyCar Top 10 finishes into her first Nationwide race in three months. The 28-year-old race car driver will compete in the NASCAR Nationwide New England 200 at New Hampshire Motorspeedway on Saturday. Patrick’s cross over to NASCAR has seen mixed results. Her first race on the ARCA circuit was a great success as Patrick finished in sixth place at the Daytona Motor Speedway. On the Nationwide, Patrick has wrecked twice in three races, so perhaps we shouldn’t expect the IndyCar star to threaten to win the race. Patrick told the media that she’d be happy with a Top 20 or T0p 15 finish in New Hampshire. Regardless of whatever place Danica finishes on Saturday, there will be a lot of extra eyes on New Hampshire cheering her on.

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

While NASCAR has great hopes of improved television ratings and larger crowds for Danica Patrick's return to the circuit this summer, she insists she's just another race car driver seizing an opportunity. Propping up an entire race series isn't her intention.

"I don't feel responsibility (to draw crowds), I'm just going out there and getting experience and trying to do well at the end of the day,'' said Patrick, who returns to NASCAR Nationwide Series competition this Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after spending the last three months focusing on her full time job in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

"I am just really lucky as an athlete that people are curious how I'm doing and want to see. So I just do my best to put on a show and hopefully it's something that gives people a reason to smile and cheer. And if I do that, then I'm doing my job.''

Patrick also quickly deferred to realistic expectations on the track.

"I hope this weekend I finish in the top twenty or the top fifteen and kind of build myself up,'' Patrick said Tuesday.

"I think the best thing I can do for myself on the NASCAR weekends is really come up with some realistic expectation levels instead of having them be like IndyCar expectations levels where I'm hoping to win and I'm hoping to finish on the podium.''

 

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And by “she,” I mean Danica Patrick.

This post serves as your official 10 day hype warning.  You’d better enjoy the nice, quiet, normal Nationwide Series coverage this weekend on ESPN, because it will be the calm before the storm.  Danica returns to the JR Motorsports #7 on June 26th at New Hampshire.

Through the first three Nationwide Series races of the season, you may not have even realized there were 42 other drivers in the field.  Or really, you may have thought Danica was the only NASCAR driver there was.  Danica Mania hit NASCAR hard, with constant coverage of her during the races, and plenty of stories about her to read about online.  Since her last race at Las Vegas in February however, the hype has died down.

The hype is about to get shocked back to life.

While she’s been away from NASCAR, Danica has been busy working on a very mediocre Indy Car season.  Through seven races this season she has one top five and three top ten finishes.  She currently sits 11th in the points standings, and her average finish is the worst she’s had since her rookie year in 2005.  Some have gone so far as to suggest that her foray into NASCAR has taken something away from her open wheel skills this year.

The Danica haters have been quieted a little in recent weeks, as she finished sixth at Indianapolis, and then followed that up with a second at Texas on June 5th.  Jumping back into a Nationwide Series car right when it appears she has the open wheel ship righted might not bode well for her, however.  Couple that with the fact that her summer NNS starts are coming at New Hampshire, Chicagoland, Michigan, and Dover, and it might be a tough summer for Ms. Patrick.

After her Loudon start, Hurricane Danica will reappear in NASCAR once a month through September, and then starting October 9th at Auto Club Speedway, Danica will run the final six NNS races.

So now that you’ve been warned, you have plenty of time to go buy canned goods, flashlights, batteries, and other necessities.  Also, don’t forget to board up your windows and batten down the hatches.  Looks like Hurricane Danica could be a CAT 5.

TheNASCARInsiders.com

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by FanHouse TV

Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IRL, Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS -- Four ladies and twenty nine gentleman are almost set to start their engines and kick off the 2010 Indy 500 from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There are story lines galore, including Helio Castroneves' quest for a record-tying fourth Indy 500 win, Danica Patrick trying to best her third-place finish from last year, and a talented crew of rookie drivers looking to win it in their first attempt. FanHouse TV's Holly Cain is joined by three-time Indy 500 Champ Johnny Rutherford as they handicap the field, and project a winner.

FanHouse TV: Handicapping the Indy 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 29 May 2010 20:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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