|
 She has no victories, no top fives.
But as Patrick starts her fourth full season in Sprint Cup, paired
with new crew chief Billy Scott, she points to her ability to get up
to speed more quickly in practice as a source of confidence that the
results will be better this year.
"I'm far more confident," Patrick said Tuesday at Daytona
International Speedway during NASCAR Media Day, the annual media
event that serves as a preview for Sunday's Daytona 500 (1 p.m. ET
on FOX). "I'm far more confident and comfortable. I'm understanding
the car properly and able to help in making it better quickly on the
race weekend. Also the comfort of getting up to speed fast helps
that learning curve, too.
"I remember there was lots of times in the very beginning when I
wasn't able to drive the car to the very limit. We'd come in and
make changes based on the way that I was driving it. Once I was
driving it the way it needed to be, all of a sudden we ended up back
where we started. We wasted all practice for me to learn how to do
it."
That's one area where Patrick has made significant improvement over
the past three seasons.
"(I'm) much better at getting up to speed," she said. "But always
room to improve. I'm still working on doing a better job at that. I
think, as a driver, we all tend to have our general weak areas and
general strong areas. I know mine. I'm sure everybody else knows
theirs, too."
Patrick already has established a bond with Scott, who most recently
worked with Clint Bowyer at now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing.
"Billy is just a very relatable guy," Patrick said. "He's very easy
to talk to. He's just a really normal, normal guy. I think that's
important when it comes to a team, that everyone can talk to him,
communicate and feel like they cannot only say what they want but
have a good time as well.
"I feel like it creates a good environment. Even last weekend (in
the Sprint Unlimited) when we were faced with quite a few different
things, with accident, crash damage, overheating, things like that
at the end, the team did a great job of working together, even
though it's the first time we've all done that.
"I think that's a reflection of everybody being comfortable and
confident based on his leadership."
Dillon: Nothing set in stone with Stewart-Haas Racing
Don't bet against Ty Dillon replacing injured Tony Stewart in the
No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet for a number of Bass Pro
Shop-sponsored races.
Though Dillon acknowledged discussions with SHR about that
possibility, he said talk of a done deal at this point are
"premature."
"Unfortunately, it kind of stinks that we even have to talk about
this down here," Dillon said. "I think everybody, including myself,
wants to see Tony go out the right way and run every single race.
"It would be an honor to drive Tony's car in his last year and
hopefully do good for those guys. Nothing has been announced, and I
haven't signed anything yet. We've been in talks, obviously.
Hopefully, we'll have some news sooner or later.
"It's a slow process. There are a lot of different things going on.
Hopefully, we'll have some news later on. Nothing is set in stone,
and I don't like to say anything until pen hits paper."
Low man on the totem pole
Chase Elliott may be the youngest Daytona 500 pole winner in NASCAR
history, but that doesn't mean he has moved up the pecking order at
Hendrick Motorsports.
[to top of second column] |
If an HMS driver happens to have an opportunity to participate in a
Goodyear tire test during an off week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series schedule, Elliott already has been "volunteered" for the job
-- by teammates Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne.
"I get volunteered for tests that those guys don't want to go do,"
Elliott said during Daytona 500 media day interviews at Daytona. "If
there's a test on an off week, you're probably not going to see
Jimmie, Dale or Kasey go do it. They're going to sign me up
firsthand. What am I going to say?
"I'm not against it. It's just funny. We were in a meeting the other
day, and they talked about having a test sometime throughout the
year, maybe one of the off weeks or something. It hadn't (been) two
seconds and Jimmie said, 'Chase, sign him up.'"
New opportunity for Allgaier
With Clint Bowyer needing a place to drive for a year while waiting
to take over the No. 14 Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing, Justin
Allgaier was the odd man out at HScott Motorsports.
But in Allgaier's estimation, the opportunity to race for a NASCAR
Xfinity Series championship with JR Motorsports is ample
compensation for losing a full-time Sprint Cup ride. The presence of
team principals Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller made
signing with JRM a no-brainer.
"This is the easiest decision I've made in a long time, I think,"
Allgaier said. "I look at what Dale and Kelley and this whole
organization has done and accomplished and what they're trying to
accomplish.
"And I think, from a driver's aspect, to have an owner that races
and understands the on-track stuff, and to have owners that
understand the off-track stuff as well as anybody -- to be able to
understand how to put the right people in place -- I feel like just
being part of the organization for the past couple of months, I
think they've got a great handle on that, and that's all I needed to
see."
Allgaier considers the move to the Xfinity Series a step forward,
given the resources and the wealth of experience available to him at
JRM.
"Nothing against any of the race teams I've been with in my past
history," he said. "It's just different. And I think you can go to
every team in the industry and drive for them. Some you're going to
be competitive in, and some you're not. Some you're going to have
fun in, some you're not. Sometimes you're going to be competitive
and not have fun. There are all these things that weigh into it.
"Personally, I needed to get back to being competitive and trying to
go to the racetrack to win races and win the championship -- and
learning. I think the resources, for me, are something I'm really
excited to be a part of. ... I think, from a driver's standpoint,
the learning side has been the coolest thing for me."
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
