Patrick finishes sixth in stock car debut

Posted at 12:00am on 07 February 2010

By Lewis Franck

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida, Feb 6 (Reuters) - IndyCar driver Danica Patrick survived a spinout to finish sixth in her stock car debut at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.

"That was fun," Patrick, the only woman to win an IndyCar race, told reporters after the 80-lap ARCA race on the high-banked speedway.

"I was going side-by-side with people. My car doesn't look very pretty," she said of the dents and scrapes, "but that was fun."

Former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and Patrick's car bumped on lap 54, sending her spinning in the grass.

"The guy came down over the front of me," said Patrick, who did not crash and resumed racing in the regional stock car series that uses NASCAR-type cars.

"I thought: 'Shoot, we're not out of it,'" she said. "I was pretty excited to go from last."

American Bobby Gerhart won the race with Piquet Jr. 27th.

Patrick, who plans to run a partial schedule on NASCAR's second tier series this year, could make her debut there next week. A decision is expected on Monday. (Editing by Gene Cherry and Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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