Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick: Danica Patrick Finishes 10th After Leading Late. Danica Patrick Photo Gallery. Danica Patrick Go Daddy super bowl commercials. Count Danica Patrick among the happier Izod IndyCar Series drivers now that a four-race swing to open the 2011 season on road and street courses is over.

Actually, the series’ most popular driver already might have been in a good mood.”Because it’s Christmas every day!” she laughed during a test session shortly before the IndyCar season began a little over a month ago. “I’ve been in a good mood all year because everyone around me is in a good mood. It just doesn’t do any good to be (ticked) off. In the moment something happens, you can react. But you’ve got to let it go. I didn’t do a good job of letting things go last year, and they got at me.”

In 2010, the struggles of her first part-time season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (with a best finish of 19th in 13 races) were compounded by a rough year in IndyCar (in which she posted eight top 10s, her lowest total since 2006).

While the Andretti Autosport driver is off to a slow start in her No. 7 Dallara-Honda this season (though she did post a seventh at Long Beach), Indianapolis Motor Speedway awaits this month. The first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500 has five top 10s in six starts at the 2.5-mile speedway, and the centennial running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing kicks off four oval races in a row, which Patrick admittedly favors over turning right.

Her NASCAR hiatus will end in early June as she returns to her No. 7 Chevrolet with JR Motorsports at Chicagoland Speedway. She has three finishes of 17th or better and was ranked fourth in points after a fourth at Las Vegas, the best finish by a woman in a NASCAR national series.