NASCAR’s Danica Patrick ‘moving on’ from Daytona 500 finish

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Danica Patrick said she’s “moving on” from what, for her, was a disappointing finish in the Daytona 500, starting with the next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Patrick started on the pole and was running third in the Daytona 500 entering the final lap last Sunday. But she finished eighth after Dale Earnhardt Jr. and several other drivers passed her in the last two turns.

Despite being the first woman to start on the pole in a Cup race and to lead at the Daytona 500, Patrick was less than exuberant after the race.

“I was just frustrated that I didn’t have a better plan” for the final lap, Patrick said Friday before practicing at Phoenix International. “I was disappointed.”

But she added that “it really helped teach me” and that “last weekend is what it was and we’re moving on.”

This is Patrick’s first full year in the Cup series, but she drove in the fall Cup race at the one-mile Phoenix International oval last November.

She had a solid run in her No. 10 Chevrolet until a late-race crash left her with a 17th-place finish.

The November race “will give us a good baseline” for Sunday, said Patrick, who lives in the Phoenix area, adding that she hoped to “pick up where we left off.”

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