Patrick: “I have never felt pressure as a female" to perform in NASCAR

“The only thing I think about is my job is to do as well as I can in the car and my ultimate job is to win. It’s my job to do the best job I can at that,” Patrick said Wednesday at Daytona 500 Media Day.

“I have never felt pressure as a female to do something more or different or something for women. I don’t. I never have. I also am not someone who said, ‘Girls, get into racing.’ I’ve never been just a solo girl supporter.

“I’m about achieving the highest level they can at whatever it is they are good at, whether you’re a girl or a guy. Everybody is good at something and it’s about finding that and making the most of it.”

Patrick came to NASCAR after a fairly successful career in the IndyCar Series, where she won one race and had several strong runs in the Indianapolis 500.

Struggling for success in NASCAR

Her NASCAR career has seen mixed results. She won the pole for the Daytona 500 in her first full season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2013 but has failed to earn a top-five finish in 154 career starts.

Patrick finished a career-best-tying 24th in the series standings last season but failed to finish in the top-10 of any race.

She begins her fifth full-time season with Stewart-Haas Racing this week but still has sponsorship inventory on her car to fill after Nature’s Bakery pulled out in the offseason.

Daytona Clash performance

She kicked off the 2017 season with a fourth-place finish in last Sunday’s Clash non-points event at Daytona International Speedway.

“We only had 17 cars out there but it was a big challenge because we had so few cars to really stay up in the mix,” she said. “It was an honor to be out there with so many great drivers. It’s my job to mix it up with them and beat them.

“It was a good day. At Daytona and Talladega, on the superspeedways, you got to be a little lucky and I definitely got lucky a couple times.”

Thinking about the future

Patrick, 34, said Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s loss of half a season of racing last year due to a concussion was “a little bit thought provoking” for herself and likely other drivers.

“While we don’t get repeated hits line in succession like in football in a short amount of time, it’s rough in the car and the hits and probably singular but bigger,” she said.

“It makes you think, for sure. You have to pay attention to yourself. There is nothing better than someone like Dale Jr. getting out of the car for as long as he did and saying, ‘Hey, I have a problem” because it makes it more available for everyone else.

“Now, I don’t think anyone else has as much luxury, sponsorship-wise, as Dale Jr. probably does to get just get out of the car like that, but it is also coming from a big-name driver that is setting a standard for well-being.

“It’s our life. If there was someone who told me, or I would hope any other driver, if you have another wreck, you could have a serious problem, they’d be out. I would be out. I love what I do, but I also love lots of other things and I love life. I’m too young to have it be over.”