Patrick Finishes 21st at Las Vegas

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Aspen Dental Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), finished 21st in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Patrick, who started 22nd, fell to 30th in the early portion of the race and went a lap down, but she fought her way to a respectable 21st-place result.

“For us on the 10 car, we were really good all weekend,” Patrick said. “The guys on the Aspen Dental Chevy gave me a great car. The weakest session we had all weekend was the last practice. I’m really happy with the cars this year.

I was running with the leaders the last half of the race, but I was a lap down. Unfortunately, one car always stayed out (rather than pitting), so we couldn’t get our lap back (via the wave around). And we just missed the lucky dog spot.”

For Patrick, it was a solid run, given her luck of the last two weeks. She was involved in accidents not of her making at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and at Phoenix International Raceway and finished 40th and 36th, respectively.

“Obviously you always want more, but I’m happy with it, especially after what we’ve gone through the last two weeks,” Patrick said. “It’s a good day and gives us something to build on going to Bristol.”

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 26th, while Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, finished 33rd.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 41st. Harvick led twice for 23 laps, but an issue with a wheel hub forced him to the garage for repairs, and he finished the race 30 laps down.

Brad Keselowski won the Kobalt 400 to score his 11th career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his first at Las Vegas.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished 1.530 seconds behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Paul Menard, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were four caution periods for 18 laps, with only one driver failing to finish the 267-lap race.

With round three of 36 complete, Harvick leads the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He is 14th, 50 points behind first-place Earnhardt. Stewart is 27th, 85 points out of first. Busch is 28th, 86 points out of first, and Patrick is 33rd, 97 points behind Earnhardt.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Food City 500 on Sunday, March 16 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its prerace show at 12:30 p.m.

Stewart-Haas Racing

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