The GoDaddy girl went out and posted a lap of 182.741 mph, narrowly edging the time of 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne.
Following qualifying, third-place qualifier Elliott Sadler had high words of praise for Patrick.
“In the last 24 months, I’d say she is by far the most improved driver we have on the circuit,” Sadler said. “Last July, that was kind of her breakthrough race as far as I’m concerned as far as drafting and feeling comfortable racing with her.”
The only other woman to win a pole in NASCAR’s second-tier series was Shawna Robinson at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1994. Patrick already holds the record for best finish by a female in any NASCAR national touring series, a fourth-place run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Nationwide race last March.
Patrick has high hopes for Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300. “Any [driver] that sits on the pole is expected to do well because they have one of the fastest cars,” she said.
A win is not out of the question for Patrick. Last July at Daytona, she teamed up with Tony Stewart, leading laps on multiple occasions, and was in position to threaten for the win before being caught up in a late-race crash.
At any race, she is glad for a positive development after crashing hard on the last lap of her Gatorade Duel on Thursday. “I was thinking how disappointing the end of the day was yesterday and how happy you can be 24 hours later. It’s a good turn of events.”
I watched her in car camera as she hit the wall HARD this week. I didnt realize till after someone pointed out why she put her hands up to her head. Its Not a very NASCAR move. But after it was poiinted out its what she learned while driving open wheel cars. It was a mean lick and she didnt loook startled much. Thats pretty tough. Has anyone noticed who NASCAR drivers hold the wheel in an emminant crash? She let go... Pretty smart move.
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