NASCAR Driver Danica Patrick waits to get in her car during the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 race at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. Feb. 23, 2013. The Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race is scheduled for Feb. 24. (REUTERS/Brian Blanco)
DAYTONA, FLA. - Danica Patrick did not win the Daytona 500 but she showed she belonged on the same race track with the best stock car drivers in the world.
By finishing eighth and leading five laps at the Great American Race, Patrick also etched her name a few more time in the annals of racing history.
Just by starting the race on the pole Patrick became the first woman to take the green flag at the front of a Daytona 500, and on Lap 90 when she took the lead she became the first woman to lead a lap at Daytona, or any Sprint Cup race, under green flag conditions.
The only other woman to lead a Cup race was Janet Guthrie at Ontario Motor Speedway in California in 1977 when she led five laps, but they were under caution.
Her total of five laps led was another milestone
But more impressive than any of these records was that Patrick was competitive for the entire race and was a threat to win right up until the final handful of laps when she was shuffled back.
