By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
Few drivers entered Thursday’s Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway amid more uncertainty than Danica Patrick.
So while a 14th-place run might have been disappointing, Patrick surviving the 60-lap qualifying race with her car in one piece ultimately accomplished Premium Motorsports’ mission for the night.
In her first race with the team, the 2013 Daytona 500 polesitter was tasked with both learning about her No. 7 Chevrolet for Sunday’s edition of ‘The Great American Race’ and surviving any pitfalls that could bring her final planned Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start to an early end.
In the end the Illinoisan managed just that, avoiding a mid-race crash that took out her fellow competitors while diagnosing her machine for crew chief Tony Eury Jr.
“It’s just kind of weird, you know,” Patrick said. “Make almost no practice laps and then go race. For me, even at the end I was just playing it safe. We got really lucky that we didn’t get in that first accident.
“Just playing it safe at the end. It was a little too loose to push it. If I pushed it, I might have just spun by myself. That isn’t a very good move.”
Like many in the field, Thursday’s Duels were the first chance for Patrick to truly gauge how her car handled in the midst of a drafting pack in race conditions.
“That was the first time I ever had any cars behind me,” she said. “In practice we did less than 10 laps on the back of a group.”
But unlike most of her competitors, Patrick held extra risk in the race. The 35-year-old couldn’t afford to crash her primary machine. Given that, Patrick’s Premium Motorsports team considered the run a success.
“She done a good job,” Eury told Autoweek and Kickin’ the Tires. “We told her to run at the back of the pack most of the night, just stay out of trouble because this is our only bullet. She did what we asked her to do.
“I think she was a little disappointed just because she was last in that lead pack, but overall it was a success. We ran from seventh to 10th most of the night. Now we’ve got three hours to get it tuned up for Daytona, which I don’t think will be a problem. We just (had) to get through tonight.
The Duel provided an official race reunion for Patrick and Eury, who previously worked together at JR Motorsports in the XFINITY Series from 2010 through 2012.
Having a familiar voice atop the pit box figures to be an advantage for Patrick, though she’s grown quite a bit since their initial run together.
“Super familiar, but when we worked together before I don’t think my vocabulary was probably quite as big as it is now,” Patrick said. “And it definitely was different. I’m pretty sure I was still speaking Indy car, which was “understeer, oversteer,’ not ‘push and loose.’
“It’s good to have him (Eury) on the car, though.”
Eury echoed Patrick’s sentiments on her development as a NASCAR driver.
“I mean obviously, she’s learned more about these cars,” Eury said. “She’s learned how it’s supposed to feel. She’s had the good runs where she knows exactly what the car’s supposed to feel like, and when it’s not right she knows it.
“That’s what’s going to make our job easier. She can really diagnose the car better. But the biggest deal is the car is in one piece and ready for the 500.”
But while Patrick may have adapted to stock car racing, Eury believes his knowledge of her preference in handling should help the pair in Patrick’s final NASCAR effort.
“I kind of know when it’s loose in she’s not going to drive it,” Eury said. “So you’ve definitely to have it to where it’s tight on entry and gives her a lot of comfort there.
“It’s my job to kind of figure out where that’s at, and I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I need to do here. So I think it’ll be a pretty easy fix.”
Eury’s knowledge of Patrick’s handling needs could be critical in Sunday’s Daytona 500 – a race Patrick predicts will be dictated by handling with the current rules package.
“It’s a handful, no doubt – especially getting into the corner,” Patrick said. “Handling’s definitely going to come into it. I mean, it’s night time and cool out (tonight). Come Sunday in the sunshine it’s going to be all about handling.”
Patrick showed bursts of speed in her first run with Premium Motorsports, though it may not have yielded a strong result. But after struggling with a loose car throughout the night, the seventh-year NASCAR star shares the same uncertainty for Sunday’s race as her fellow competitors.
“I don’t know,” Patrick said of her expectations. “We’ll see.”