Danica Patrick finished in third-place during the 2009 Indy 500 (Image: Getty)
Danica Patrick etched her name in the history books 17 years ago upon becoming the highest-finishing woman in the Indianapolis 500.
Back in May 2009,Patrick- who'sslated to lead FOX Sports' coverageof the 2026Indianapolis 500qualifying on Saturday and Sunday - secured a third-place finish during 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.' Castroneves ultimately claimed the checkered flag, beating second-place finisher Dan Wheldon to the line by 1.9819-seconds.
After beginning the race 10th on the grid, Patrick slowly crept her way through the field before a mental gaffe on pit road caused her to slide back down. Once the Beloit, Wisconsin native slid through her box on a stop with the caution flag out on Lap 100, she dropped from P6 back down to 10th.
The brief setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Patrick subsequently received a front-row seat to the carnage in front of her. As several crashes knocked major contenders - including Tony Kanaan and Vítor Meira - out of contention, she managed to emerge from the wreckage unscathed.
With 17 laps remaining on a restart, Patrick engaged in a tightly-contested battle with Wheldon for second place, thereby allowing Castroneves to pull away from the pair and eventually win.
Sign up to our NASCAR newsletter here.
Advertisement
Assessing her performance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Patrick said at the time: "I had a really good car; a really good car on long runs. I would get good runs on Dan but it wasn't enough.
"Oh well, what are you going to do? I went to the outside on the restart and thought I had the momentum but we were just dead-even. The track got better as the day went on. My car really came to me. We were able to run really flat all the way around. I'm happy with it. I wish we had a better shot at the win but what are you going to do?"
Since hanging up the racing gloves in May 2018, Patrick revealed that she's still overcome with a feeling of nostalgia upon returning to the Brickyard, which played host to many of her best finishes.
"Real good feels. I always have a lot of reverence and respect for here, too, just with the facility, the history," Patrick toldFOX Sports' Bob Pockrasslast May.
"The only thing I thought when I was young, as I was coming up through racing, is I just thought to myself that if can make it, it'll be a big deal. But I don't know what that meant," Patrick said. "I didn't really put a lot of imagery to or ideas to what it would be to be a big deal.
"I just knew it'd be a big deal because it was just something that hadn't really happened. Women had been in racing, but to do well is like a whole other thing."
Post a Comment