Patrick finishes 13th in Michigan Cup debut

BROOKLYN, MICH. Danica Patrick’s first Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway yielded the kind of result her team had hoped for since April.

Riding with only two new tires — while several other drivers opted for four — over the final green- flag stretch, Patrick finished 13th Sunday to post the third- best finish of her rookie campaign.

A poor starting spot — 37th — kept Patrick back in the pack for much of the Quicken Loans 400, but by the race’s end she put herself in position to score one of the best runs of what has been a tough season.

She finished three spots ahead of boyfriend and fellow rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Patrick created a sensation in the season- opening Daytona 500, becoming the first woman to win a Cup pole and finishing eighth. But her only other top- 15 before Sunday was a 12th place at Martinsville Speedway in April.

“The best the car was was in that last run,” Patrick said. “We had had those left sides on for a long time. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we went green ( with 27 laps to go), but it was really good, especially on ( turn) entry, which was my struggle all weekend. We just had to be smart about not losing time to the guys who had taken four.”

Patrick and others in the top 15 at the finish benefited from several leading drivers either parking with troubles or limping along after problems.

“We made the most of it,” she said. “I don’t know if we were a 13th- place car, but we finished 13th, and you have to take those because there are days you don’t get what you deserve.”

Crew chief Tony Gibson said Patrick showed gains throughout the race and weekend.

“We got better from Friday forward,” he said. “Today we had a good, strong car. We kept making gains, making gains. ...

“Danica did a fantastic job. For her first time here in a Cup car ( she had run two Nationwide Series races at the track), it was good. It’s pretty hard to race with these guys, but she did a good job sticking with it.”

The team went with a quick pit stop early in the race to gain track position, but Patrick wasn’t strong enough at that point to maintain her position.

“I couldn’t hold it, especially in ( turns) 1 and 2,” she said. “People were getting underneath me and moving me.”

Patrick sits 27th in points after 15 of 36 races.

“We’ll absolutely build on today,” Gibson said. “We take the highs and run with them.”

TODD WARSHAW, GETTY IMAGES “We still have a ways to go,” says Danica Patrick, who is 27th in the Sprint Cup standings after finishing 13th Sunday.