Patrick: Friday's run abbreviated but fun

Danica Patrick has become comfortable in the sharp focus of a camera, by choice and by necessity.

She was the attractive open wheel prospect doing spreads for men’s magazines, the girl power icon who became a national sensation and marketers' dream by finishing fourth in her first Indianapolis 500 as an Indy Racing League rookie in 2005.

She’s been a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue model, a red carpet fixture.

But the 27-year-old driver admitted a certain intimidation on Friday when she emerged from a JR Motorsports hauler in an electric-green fire suit and quick-stepped toward the No. 88 Chevrolet that is expected to shepherd her – through this test in the lower-level ARCA series – toward a possible NASCAR career.

“It was a bit of a circus out there,” she said after completing four laps before rain halted the first of three test days at Daytona International Speedway.

“I’m not unfamiliar with having people around, although it does seem a little funny when there is not much else going on. It definitely feels very ‘singled out.' ”

Shutters clicked and videotape rolled as the most recognizable crossover figure in American motorsports realized that even the seemingly simple task of pulling on a helmet and safety harness was a completely different venture now.

But she got through. Better than that, she said. She was pleased.

She was flat-out and running on the “bottomish” after three laps around a track she admittedly didn’t know was 2.5 miles long until Friday morning.

She didn’t wreck the car, although it wiggled like a beast, and came to appreciate that it “did feel a little slow, actually” compared with 230 mph speeds she’s carried at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of moments when I say, 'Wow, that felt way too fast.' "

Patrick was 12th-fastest of the 26 drivers with a best lap of 51.095 second, which translated to 176.142 mph.

“I didn’t want to have an accident, but I felt all right,” she said. “It was fun. I trusted the car. I trusted the preparation of it. I trusted the guys. I trust (crew chief) Tony (Eury Jr.) putting a setup on there that isn’t going to do anything horrendous, and it didn’t. It was fine.”

The next crucial step will be repetition, competition director Tony Eury Sr. said, making adjustments to the car that Patrick must react to and influence.

“She has so much confidence in her ability, just a real competitive person,” he said. “We’re looking forward to seeing what she can do.”

The competitiveness, so far, appears to be swaying Patrick from moving her Nationwide Series debut from the second race of the season – Feb. 20 at Fontana, Calif., to Feb. 13 at Daytona.

A driver whose 81-race, one-victory IndyCar career has been scrutinized and opined upon wants to prove to herself that she is ready for “quite an arena.”

“I just don’t know enough right now,” she said. “With 30 Cup guys out there it’s going to be really, really challenging.”

Just like handling the possible distractions of a full Indycar season and a part-time NASCAR schedule. Patrick will have to learn to handle it herself.

Her team seems well-equipped for the task. Eury Sr. said his family’s capacity to deal with fame and the scrutiny and pressure it produces made Friday another day at the office for he and his son, namesake and Patrick’s crew chief.

“My whole career, I’ve been in that,” Eury Sr. said, “because the only person I’ve ever worked for is Dale Earnhardt or Dale Jr. It’s always been there since the day I started.

"It just comes with the job as far as I’m concerned, and Tony Jr. is the same way. We’re either heroes or zeroes. If we don’t run good, we’re the problem and if we run good, he’s the good guy.”

Though Patrick can expect to remain a focus of attention when she eventually begins her 13-race Nationwide series schedule, she will at least then be surrounded by enough NASCAR drivers to siphon off some of the mania.

The 50 plus-car ARCA field set to test this weekend would be interesting without Patrick's presence.

There are drivers of Indian and Chinese descent, one of the most successful and popular Motocross riders of all time and a team sponsored by Smith & Wesson. There also are the nieces of 1990's surprise Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope and an IndyCar rival of Patrick’s – one of a record nine women.

Even her No. 88 Chevrolet, shiny and perfect enough for a starting grid, demanded attention in a line of cars that included many with paint jobs of primer and numbers duct-taped onto the doors.

Ricky Carmichael, the former Motocross star and 2009's most popular driver in the Truck series, seemed to appreciate the anonymity.

“It is a good position I’m in,” he said. “I had maybe one ESPN and one Speed camera on my debut, but not as many as her. But that’s part of it. You know what? It’s a good problem to have.”

Milka Duno, a former Grand Am and IndyCar Series driver whose pit road argument with Patrick became a YouTube sensation in 2008, said she wasn’t concerned with the gauntlet between Patrick’s hauler and garage stall. She was busy getting fitted for a driver's seat before practice.

“I’m not thinking about her,” said Duno, a Venezuelan with no stock car experience. “It’s not a surprise we’re here together. I’m a driver. She’s a driver. We just want to drive.”

NASCAR president Mike Helton, however, came to watch.

Coyly insisting he was drawn from NASCAR’s office suites across the street by the sound of engines, Helton worked through the line of photographers into Patrick’s garage and chatted at length with Eury Sr.

Helton has experienced anticipation over newcomers as a top NASCAR executives. And this, he said, was impressive.

"I don't know I can relate it to anything I can remember,” he said.

“Obviously, there was anticipation when Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth moved ... to the Cup Series and there was anticipation when Tony Stewart decided to switch from open wheels to our type of racing.

"But I don't know that I've ever seen anything quite like this.”