Patrick ends season with 20th-place finish

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), finished 20th in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Danica Patrick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

Patrick, who started 24th, twice went a lap down to the leaders. But she rallied both times to return to the lead lap via the “Lucky Dog” rule, which states the first car one lap down when the caution comes out gets its lap back.

“I’m proud of the GoDaddy guys,” said Patrick, who made her 46th Sprint Cup start and her first at Homestead. “They gave me a good, consistent car that drove well. Tony Gibson (crew chief) made great calls all night, and the pit crew was outstanding, as they always are. The handling and the balance were good all night, and we did a good job of keeping up with the track and changes that needed to be made. It was a solid run for us – a good way to end the year and go into the offseason.”

Patrick, who was competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished two spots in the race ahead of Stenhouse, who placed 22nd. Patrick finished the season 27th in the point standings with 646 points. She finished runner-up to Stenhouse for 2013 Rookie of the Year title.

Patrick’s teammate, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS, finished 17th. The third member of SHR, Mark Martin, interim driver of SHR’s No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS as he subs for the injured Tony Stewart, finished 19th.

Denny Hamlin won the Ford EcoBoost 400 to score his 23rd career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his second at Homestead.

Matt Kenseth finished .799 of a second behind Hamlin in the runner-up spot, while Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-five. Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were eight caution periods for 37 laps, with five drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.

Newman represented SHR in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and came into the final race of the 10-race Chase in 11th place among the 13 Chase drivers. He ended the season 11th in the standings with 2,286 points.

This was the sixth Sprint Cup title for Johnson, one shy of the record of seven Sprint Cup championships earned by NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

TSC