The Official Danica Patrick Fan Site

Daytona - 2013

Discuss the COPD 300 and the Daytona 500 here.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Damon on February 20, 2013 at 9:56am

Saw Mike Massaro's live report from the track about 25 minutes ago on ESPN and he says that Danica's team will only be doing a systems check on the car in the first practice, but will be drafting in 2nd practice, so if anybody wants to watch practice on SPEED and wonders why she didn't get many laps that first session, that's why.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Becky on February 20, 2013 at 8:43pm

I had the practice sessions on in the background as I was working today... During the first practice she ran a few laps with Keselowski and Bayne. Then in the second practice she did one run as part of 6 to 8 car pack and showed good speed. It seemed she spent most of the time in the back of the pack when they were showing it on tv but DW said she drove to the front when they came back out of commercial? So a successful day because the car still showed good speed and she didn't run into any trouble.

In between practices they had Nascar Live on and I don't think I've ever heard a Daytona Pole Winner trashed the way Dave DeSpain trashed Danica on the show. I really hope she makes a few of these fools eat their words this year. :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Becky on February 20, 2013 at 8:45pm

Nationwide practice gets underway tomorrow... There are 46 cars on the entry list for 40 spots with 30 locked in already.

Danica in the #34 Turner Scott Motorsports Chevy Camaro will need to qualify on time.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Becky on February 20, 2013 at 10:56pm

Tony Gibson says they are racing in the Budweiser Duel...

"We're going to race hard," he told USA TODAY Sports. "We'll try to stay up there and lead laps. But if it gets crazy, we'll get out of it — we'll go back there and ride for a while.

"But we're not parking it unless something breaks."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2013/02/20/danica-patri...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Becky on February 20, 2013 at 10:59pm

Good article on the reaction by some to Danica winning the pole... Here is the money line from the article (in my opinion):

"Far be it from me to offer a liberation refresher course, but equality is not merely the right to be the same. It includes the right to be different. This is something Danica Patrick realised long ago, and if the good ol' boys can't take it, well, more fool them."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/feb/20/danica-patrick-nas...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by PhilipJames on February 20, 2013 at 11:13pm

Dave Despain is a *&^****. (Using symbols because someone once gave me heck that there are "young innocents" who come here and I was corrupting them)

I ignore this dinosaur because he is getting old and will not be with us much longer... just like some of the neanderthals who automatically take shots at Danica. He ignores her abilities and always complains about how she gets so much attention.

Remember, out of the millions of Danica fans, you have here an old fuddy duddy that a much smaller number of people see and even less remember. So ignore this dolt called Dave Despain.

Becky said:

I had the practice sessions on in the background as I was working today... During the first practice she ran a few laps with Keselowski and Bayne. Then in the second practice she did one run as part of 6 to 8 car pack and showed good speed. It seemed she spent most of the time in the back of the pack when they were showing it on tv but DW said she drove to the front when they came back out of commercial? So a successful day because the car still showed good speed and she didn't run into any trouble.

In between practices they had Nascar Live on and I don't think I've ever heard a Daytona Pole Winner trashed the way Dave DeSpain trashed Danica on the show. I really hope she makes a few of these fools eat their words this year. :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Becky on February 20, 2013 at 11:28pm

A good article on Tony Gibson's team...

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2013/02/20/heart-of...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Todd Miller on February 21, 2013 at 12:11am

I have always enjoyed DeSpain on Wind Tunnel, but disappointed this week in his and Bob Dillner's lack of professionalism in how they shared their thoughts on Danica. Maybe tone more than content.

Becky said:

I had the practice sessions on in the background as I was working today... During the first practice she ran a few laps with Keselowski and Bayne. Then in the second practice she did one run as part of 6 to 8 car pack and showed good speed. It seemed she spent most of the time in the back of the pack when they were showing it on tv but DW said she drove to the front when they came back out of commercial? So a successful day because the car still showed good speed and she didn't run into any trouble.

In between practices they had Nascar Live on and I don't think I've ever heard a Daytona Pole Winner trashed the way Dave DeSpain trashed Danica on the show. I really hope she makes a few of these fools eat their words this year. :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Damon on February 21, 2013 at 3:31pm

Frustrating race to watch, but Danica had to preserve a pole car.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Scott on February 21, 2013 at 3:38pm

I think it is a safe bet that she had the tightest car in the field, especially after watching Ryan Newman snap loose yesterday they weren't going to take any chances.

Damon said:

Frustrating race to watch, but Danica had to preserve a pole car.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by PhilipJames on February 21, 2013 at 3:38pm

If she had raced with those guys up front and wrecked, it would have been the worst thing possible. As we all know, the team was mostly responsible for the pole and wrecking would have ruined all that..... and she did not have to prove anything in this race. Think of all the advertising by NASCAR, the Daytona Raceway, FOX, etc. who are promoting the race with Danica being the first woman on the pole that would have been tarnished by wrecking.

And, again, who is going to be leading all the cars to the line on Sunday when millions are going to be watching?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Damon on February 21, 2013 at 3:47pm

Great, still gotta run the 500 miles though and show the guys out there she's reliable in the draft and that she has a good car.

I know she's reliable in the draft and won't take any crazy chances, but I'm not sure the car is all that good for Sunday to be up there in the lead group at the end.

PhilipJames said: