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DANICA PATRICK – 2017 Dover II Race Report

Event:               Apache Warrior 400 (Round 29 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Dover (Del.) International Speedway (1-mile, concrete oval)
Format:             400 laps, broken into three segments (120 laps/120 laps/160 laps)
Start/Finish:      24th/18th (Running, completed 399 of 400 laps)
Point Standing: 27th (440 points) 

Race Winner:    Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner:             Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-120):

  • Danica Patrick started 24th, finished fifth and earned six bonus points.
  • The No. 10 Ford Warriors in Pink Ford Fusion team dropped to 30th on the initial start. Patrick was able to race her way back up to 26th. She went a lap down to the leader at lap 71 but cycled back onto the lead lap as teams started making green-flag stops 10 laps later. Crew chief Billy Scott called Patrick to pit road at lap 86, but her spotter called it off as the caution flag waved before she got to pit road.
  • Patrick restarted from the fourth position at lap 92 and remained in the top-five through the end of the stage.
  • The No. 10 team pitted under caution at lap 89 for four tires and fuel, and again at lap 123 for tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. 

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 121-240):

  • Started seventh and finished 19th.
  • Patrick dropped back to 15th by lap 150. When the team pitted under caution for tires, fuel and adjustments at lap 169, she restarted in the 20th position at lap 173.
  • She was able to pick up one spot before the end of the stage. The team pitted between stages for tires, fuel and adjustments. 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 241-400):

  • Started 18th and finished 18th.
  • Patrick started the final stage from the 18th position and fell to 20th before green-flag stops started at lap 318. The No. 10 Ford Warriors in Pink team elected to stay out until lap 335 for its final stop of the race. Patrick pitted from the sixth position for tires, fuel and adjustments.
  • Once the field cycled through green-flag stops, Patrick was scored in the 18th position, one lap down to the leader. In the closing laps she maintained her position and took the checkered flag in 18th. 

Notes:              

  • This was Patrick’s 11th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and her 183rd career NASCAR Cup Series start.
  • Patrick earned 25 points in Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway, which puts her at 440 total points for the season thus far. She is ranked 27th in the driver point standings.
  • There were four caution periods for a total of 24 laps.
  • Only 12 of the 40 drivers in the Apache Warrior 400 finished on the lead lap.
  • Kyle Busch won the Apache Warrior 400 to score his 42nd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his third at Dover International Speedway. His margin of victory over second-place Chase Elliott was .357 of a second.
  • Martin Truex Jr. leads the championship standings with 3,059 points and has an 18-point margin over his nearest pursuer, Busch. 

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Ford Warriors in Pink Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing: 

“We’d hoped to get a top-15 run today, but it just didn’t work out in the end. We needed just a little bit more, but overall it was a solid day for the Warriors in Pink Ford team.”

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Oct. 8 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The event starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN.