Confidence overtakes concerns

Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Tony Eury Jr. is comfortable discussing just how uncomfortable he once was with the prospect of trying to mold Danica Patrick into a stock car driver.

The reason: She's already proved to her crew chief that she can do this.

The pace of the open wheel star's NASCAR indoctrination increased significantly on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Judging from her demeanor and that shown by her JR Motorsports crew, they expect to be up to speed in Patrick's first stock car race on Saturday, the ARCA season-opener.

At first Eury eased Patrick through many of the mundane aspects of running a stock car on the 2.5-mile restrictor-plate track. But his pupil seemed to adjust quickly.

By the end of the session she was inquiring about the specifics of the yellow-line rule that defines the lower border of the racing surface at Daytona and Talladega. Not a question expected from someone anticipating a leisurely ride around in her debut.

"She can do it," Eury said after Patrick logged 29 laps in the second practice. "She's got the head smarts to know what she wants to do and she's focused. She's got the talent to do it."

Eury needed some reassurance on that point when Patrick announced in December that she had signed a two-year contract. The deal specified partial schedules in the Nationwide Series this year and next for the Hendrick Motorsports partner.

Patrick completed three off-season tests and a pit stop tutorial two weeks ago in Charlotte. Those were intended to help familiarize her with the vastly different daily business of racing a stock car.

She has raced in the IndyCar Series since 2005. She's won once in 81 races and had a best points finish of fifth in 2009.

"We'd all be lying if we didn't say we were really concerned the first tests we went to," Eury said. "It was like, 'OK, how's this going to go?'

"She’s a keeper. She'll be fine. People have just to give her time to just learn what this race is about."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of her bosses and a teammate, appears to be giving her all the time and space possible.

"I only talked to Danica once in the last six months," he said. "She doesn't need too many people in her ear talking to her, giving her too much crap to think about.

"She's been around racing a long time. I think she's smart enough to know what she's gotten herself involved in. And she doesn't need everybody trying to tell her what's good for her."

Jason Leffler, who finished fourth in the Nationwide standings last year, said he trusts Patrick as a competitor because "she's got racing credentials."

"People come into our series week in and week out that have no idea what they're doing, especially some of those back-markers," he said. "For her to come in here as an IndyCar driver that has top-five finishes at the Indianapolis 500 and a lot of professional racing, it's no problem."

Patrick was 23rd fastest in Thursday's first session, then posted the 14th-best speed (180.484 mph) of 47 drivers in the second session. She is expected to enter at least 12 Nationwide Series races while running a full-time IndyCar schedule with Andretti Autosport, where she has a deal for the next two seasons.

Patrick will announce on Monday if she'll begin that Nationwide schedule at Daytona on Feb. 13 or wait a week for the race at Fontana, Calif.

"There’s like 30 Cup guys (in the race)," she said. "It's a bit of a unique race to start your Nationwide career off at. I wouldn't be disappointed if we just went to Fontana."

It became evident by Patrick's playfulness on the scanner on Thursday that she was not disappointed with her decision to dabble in stock cars.

It has been mutually educational.

Aside from some spit-balling with Kelly Bires, the other driver on the No. 7 Chevrolet team, there were the moments between driver and crew chief before a simulated qualifying lap.

She and Eury exchanged thoughts about team owner James Finch and his Solo cups of "special" coffee, why people always ask you to try the milk to see if it's bad and why there are so many meetings in stock car racing.

And there was the Austin Powers impersonation and the question of why it's best to skip the final practice at Daytona.

"Over here they've been known to tear up a lot of stuff in the last hour," Eury told her.

"Cool," she said.

Patrick will end up in Friday's final session anyway – although they'll wait until 30 minutes in – because no other cars drafted on Thursday, Eury said.

There are still minor details to settle, of course. Patrick several times described her car as "understeering," which in stock car parlance would be "tight."

"It's easy to speak (Indy car) language," she said. "This is all I know. I think I find myself more than anything speaking open wheel to NASCAR guys and trying to say things like 'tight' or 'loose' because I'm not trying to sound smart or European, or whatever."

But, finally, there was the lesson on proper hydration.

"You drink water like I drink beer," Eury called over the radio during one break.

"You know, if we stop right now we could all go drink beer," she came back.

That's assimilation.

Disclaimer