Danica Patrick: "I’m not tired from the season, I’m tired of the season"

It’s difficult to believe it was just 40 weeks ago that the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule started. And while Danica Patrick drove most of the races in GoDaddy green, and two in an Aspen Dental blue car, this week she has the colors of the Florida Lottery on board.

The No. 10 Florida Lottery/GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will feature the orange-and-pink color scheme of the Florida Lottery on the front of the car, joining the GoDaddy green on the back. It is part of a two-race package as Florida Lottery was on the car at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July.

This weekend’s Sprint Cup season finale is an opportunity for the Florida Lottery to increase awareness about its role in funding education and contributing to Florida’s economy. The Florida Lottery has generated more than $27 billion for education over its 26-year history, enabling more than 700,000 students to attend college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.

Hoping for Daytona-like luck

Patrick is hoping the car brings her good fortune as it did in Daytona.

While the July race was delayed one day because of rain, Patrick drove to an impressive eighth-place finish. The race was called after 112 of 160 laps due to more rain, but it was Patrick’s second top-10 finish of the three she has this year.

Patrick has improved in almost every category and is hoping she can score another good finish at Homestead to close out her sophomore season in Sprint Cup.

DANICA PATRICK, Driver of the No. 10 Florida Lottery/GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Overall thoughts on Homestead?

“I’m ready for it. It’s a mile and a half, but it’s unique in that it doesn’t have the dogleg. I’ve only run it once in Sprint Cup, but we got a top-20 and we’ve run well in Nationwide. We’ve qualified well in that series and had a top-15 in 2012. We finished second in IndyCar, so I’ve got some experience there, just not a lot in Sprint Cup.”

Florida Lottery joins you and the GoDaddy team this week. Talk about that.

“It’s nice to have Florida Lottery on the car with GoDaddy this week. They’ve done some stuff with me in the past and it’s nice to see them on board at Homestead. Hopefully, we can put together a good run with the car and get them and GoDaddy a good finish. That’s always the goal and one we are shooting for.”

How was your sophomore season in Sprint Cup?

“It’s been OK. We’ve improved in some areas and we haven’t in some, but we’re progressing. We’ve qualified better and I think we’ve raced better. We’re hoping for a good run at Homestead to finish off the year and get us ready for the break. We had a decent car last week and I hope we can do better at Homestead.”

Describe your Phoenix race last weekend.

 “We were on the lead lap, which has been a struggle there, lately. The GoDaddy car was good early on, but I think the track got tight later. We finished decent. It’s always important to run well there because of GoDaddy, so I’ll take it. Daniel Knost (crew chief) and the crew worked well together, and so that was good.”

Are you ready for the season to be over?

“I’ve always said, I’ll never turn down a little time off. It will be good to get some rest. It’s a long season. It’s 40 weeks, with two off weekends. I’ve said for the last couple of weeks, I’m not tired from the season, I’m tired of the season. It will be nice to get away some and recharge for 2015.”

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