Gerhart Wins ARCA Race, but Danica Gets All the Attention

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Danica Patrick’s day began with a new endorsement, or sort of. There's a Hot Wheels car she designed and the revelation that as a child she played with Barbie dolls. Her marketing skills could be legendary.

It ended with a sixth-place finish in the ARCA season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

In between, she gave a little fender, got a little fender, learned the treachery of the draft, took a slide through the grass and avoided the numerous wrecks that yearly make the ARCA opener so cringe-worthy. A pretty full day.

And pretty impressive if she did have Hendrick equipment--better equipment than 99% of her competition.

Now she – and her hendlers – will ruminate on whether she wants to make her Nationwide Series debut next Saturday at Daytona or wait until Feb. 20 at Fontana, Calif.

Bobby Gerhart won the race, followed by Mark Thompson and John Wes Townley.

But the race was all about Danica. The SPEED TV crew couldn't utter a quartet of sentences without mentioning where Danica was and what she was doing. Her crew chief was pleased.

“Be proud of yourself, girl. You learned a lot there at the end,” crew chief Tony Eury Jr. told Patrick after the race.

This one was about Patrick’s stock car indoctrination on a restrictor-plate track.

She was running 14th on Lap 53 of 80 after being dumped in the draft and complaining of a loose car when she was brushed in the tri-oval by Formula One refugee Nelson Piquet Jr.

That would be same Nelson Piquet Jr. (the son of a former world champion) who was shamed out of the world's biggest racing series by a scandalous wreck, supposedly on team orders.

Patrick's No. 7 Chevrolet slid sideways through the grass, but with Eury Jr. yelling “stay on it” on her radio, she recovered and avoided the wall. A series of repair pit stops dumped her to 24th. But Patrick had unwittingly earned the first credibility moment. She impressed the garage.

Patrick worked her way back to fifth with five laps left and clicking off positions when she made another dash for the front. But she settled for sixth.

“I was thinking ‘We’re not out of this, right?, ' "’ Patrick said, “ ’Why should we be out of it?’.

"I was pretty excited to go from last to the top five again.”

And so was the crowd, it seemed.

But this day was supposed to be Bobby Gerhart's day. He won the Daytona ARCA race for the second straight time and while he was in victory lane, a crowd gathered around Danica to hear what she had to say. It was a special day for Gerhart. But it also was a special day for Danica Patrick. She didn't win this time, but I'm certain she learned a lot.