Piquet vs. Patrick: Patrick takes 6th in Luca Oil Slick Mist 200
February 7, 2010 by Negative Camber
Filed under Other Racing, Parc Fermé, People & Events
Nelson Piquet Jr.made his official ARCA debut at the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway tonight. The event saw another debut with American Indycar driver Danica Patrick starting a limited schedule in the series in a much anticipated switch to Sprint Cup racing.
Piquet finished 27th, 13 laps down, while Patrick drove to an impressive 6th place after having an altercation with Piquet. Patrick, driving the GoDaddy.com Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, made a great save on lap 54 when she was tapped by Nelson Piquet. Her car spun but she saved it without hitting the wall or anyone else.
Lots of congratulations have been heaped on Patrick for her impressive debut from fellow drivers in Indycar and NASCAR alike. Only former F1 pilot Scott Speed felt compelled to offer some derision about Patrick’s save on lap 54 saying, via Twitter:
Lmao danaca[SIC] patrick amazing save secrets, just take hands off the wheel LOL I almost pissed myself
Charming, Scott. That’s class with a “K”. Open-wheel racers do take their hands off the wheel if they feel they are going to crash or hit the wall. That is common practice lest they snap their wrists. You were an F1 driver right? The race was won by Bobby Gerhart who scored his sixth career ARCA Series victory.
This is ARCA right? Shouldn’t a veteran Indycar driver do well there? I expected her to do well, not be shocked she did. The rebuttal so far is that this is the first time in a stock car for Patrick and I should be more impressed with a 6th place finish than I am but I argue that she has had testing in an ARCA car and many years behind the wheel of an Indycar. No one is affording Piquet the same platitudes as the first time he drove the car was Thursday telling AUTOSPORT:
“I am really happy with the result today and a little surprised because the first time I drove was in Thursday practice,” said Piquet.
“It was my first time in the ARCA car and my first time at Daytona. So I am really pleased with the result, especially in such a competitive session, there was just 0.5s between first and 15th. I can’t wait for the race.”
I am not sure what anyone expected of Piquet but I must admit, he did a good job of it as he has never been in that car before or at Daytona or super speedways. While the world is making over Patrick, who is still apparently a female and not a race car driver, I am more impressed that Piquet jumped in a massively heavy car, comparatively, and drove at speed in a series he has no history with.
Not taking anything away from Patrick but I expect her to do well against a group of ARCA drivers. Piquet is another story completely.
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When they showed the in-car shot of the spin I knew at some point those hands were coming off the wheel. It’s just second nature for open wheelers.
An impressive run from the back to the front in just a few laps.
I’ve always been impressed by Danica’s steering inputs. It seems to me that she sort of loses her composure the closer to the front she gets…
Bravo for pointing this out. No other motorsports journalist seems to have done so. Didn’t see it on TV, but I just read, near the very bottom of a long story on the Danica Race, that there were SIX women in the race, and one of them, somebody named Alli Owens, ran as high as third! Who could have known?
Another point: Danica drove a Hendrick car, quite possiby the fastest in the field.
Danica is good. She drove well. She also had every possible advantage in team support and money.
Looks like a moral victory for Piquet, to me. Hope he stays around in NASCAR to show more.
i think piquet could have finished higher,remember he was running 5th when that accident happened and they stoped the race to fix the safer barrier,than when the race was ready to restart he could not get his car to start,thats what dropped him to the back,up until than he was running very well up front
Another no talent woman! What don’t you people get she was in a car far superior to all the others and all she can manage is a 6th? Thats all we seem to talk about is DANICA the announcers no nothing of Piquet who out drove her and is a accomplish F3 Gp2 F1 driver! What about the other 4 amazing women who crashed within the first 10 laps? Once again not impressed with her no talent driving! She just like in Indy car did not make a stunning pass all day and rode around and stayed out of trouble!
I don’t know if you actually watched the race, but it is apparent that you don’t know anything about racing at Daytona, and its unique challenges. First, this is a restrictor plate race (a steal plate in the carburetor, which restricts air flow to the engine, for the non NASCAR people). That means that all the cares may as well be running the same engine. This was also apparent, when she was unable to keep pace with the 55 at one point in the race. If she had the “Superior” car as you said, that would not have been a problem. Also, the nature of Drafting, and bump drafting is something new to her, and something she had never had a chance to practice since Happy Hour was rained out.
I have to agree with Darrel Waltrip. I went into the race wondering if she could do something that so many other open wheel racers were unable to. But she showed that she could do it. Piquet on the other hand did not do that well. But considering how little time that he had in the car, he should be happy with his performance.
I do have to agree with you on one thing. They did talk waaayyy to much about Danica, and not enough about the other drivers. I would have loved to have heard some more about the other drivers.
To add to your point, wasn’t Piquet running in the top 6 or 7 before the incident with Danica? Not bad given he had no time in the seat.
Dear N.C. I feel the force diminshing in you. I think the dark side has taken over. Piquet and Patrick are sending you new team swag right now.
You.ll look good watching in your new Danica tubetop.
Enjoy the offseason watching ARCA things are getting desperate.
Only a few weeks for real sillyness to begin.
Take care N.C.
LOL. Did I mention that I didn’t watch the race? Are you kidding?? I covered the story from the Piquet Jr. angle as he is relevant to F1…barely. I also find it odd that so many are praising Patrick for running 6th. Is she a race car driver or a woman? The plot thickens…she’s both! Whatever. That doesn’t impress me. You want to impress me? Stop the pandering to the sexes/sexist audience.
You see, at this point money has played in to it. This exploit of women is just as egregious as pole dancers if you ask me. Because she’s a female and arguably “hot” people throw money at her and she makes serious bank over the whole deal. BS! If it weren’t for the money involved, she may actually be relevant on her own merits and be considered a real contender.
I rate Danica but I find the pandering to her sex very annoying when I thought sex wasn’t supposed to matter anymore. If it still matters, then I need to stop at an ATM, get some one dollar bills so I can tuck-a-buck at the next Indycar race…hope her husband doesn’t mind.
Forget her husband, what about *your* wife! :)
After the above comments, I still think she’s really foxy sexy. But the commentators should have covered the entire race, not just Danica. I can get my Danica sexiness doses during the GoDaddy ads.
Piquet Jr. commenting on Hamilton’s entry into F1 in 2007 said, ” he’s really nothing special “.
Quite an impressive performance by Junior… :S
They both did well for their first time in a fat ARCA car with a full field at Daytona. Piquet did exactly what he needed to do which was finish the race and get seat time. Hopping into the trucks will be different though so it is going to be like starting all over again with a clean slate. Danica ran a smart race. She hugged the bottom of the track and got a feel ofor the car in traffic. She put quite a bit of effort inot preparing for he rdebut which included practicing pit stops constantly and watching a ton of race video and it looks as it paid off