LAS VEGAS � On an afternoon when Brad Keselowski's misfortune turned into Mark Martin's gain, Danica Patrick made NASCAR history.
By Jerry Markland, Getty Images for NASCAR
Danica Patrick finished fourth in the Sam's Town 300 in Las Vegas, becoming the highest-finishing woman ever in a national series race.
By Jerry Markland, Getty Images for NASCAR
Danica Patrick finished fourth in the Sam's Town 300 in Las Vegas, becoming the highest-finishing woman ever in a national series race.
Patrick finished fourth in Saturday's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, becoming the highest-finishing woman ever in a national series race and the first to post a top-five finish in a Nationwide Series event.
Martin, battling a near-empty gas tank, rewrote his own bit of history by winning his 49th Nationwide Series race after pace-setter Keselowski blew a tire and crunched the wall on the final lap. The only lap Martin led was the 200th and final.
"I felt like we had it, but obviously we didn't," said Keselowski, who managed to finish third. "I didn't push the car too hard, that's for sure. I must have run over something because (the tire) went down real quick."
Prior to Patrick's performance, the only female to finish in the top five of a NASCAR national event was Sara Christian, fifth at Heidlberg, Pa., Oct. 2, 1949.
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RESULTS: Sam's Town 300
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PUNISHMENT: NASCAR places Robby Gordon on probation
"Leading a lap at Daytona (this year) was good and good history," Patrick said. "But as I said then, I'm hoping to make a lot more. ? I don't think about trying to achieve the highest finishing position for a female. I think about trying to win the race."
That said, Patrick, whose JR Motorsports team spent the least time on pit road, also admitted that entering the race, a top-10 finish was her goal.
"We had a good car," said Patrick, 16 races into her NASCAR career. "I knew it from the beginning of the race. I told (crew chief) Tony (Eury Jr.) to take a swing at it for the last stop and he did because it was a little bit tight to start."
Patrick, who has a win and 19 top-five finishes in 98 IndyCar races, cracked the top 20 just once in 13 starts as a NASCAR rookie. She's finished in the top 20 in each of her three races this year.
"I never want to use (inexperience) as an excuse," she said. "But I have to use it to keep my own expectations in check because when I get mad I don't perform well."
Justin Allgaier finished second, chasing Martin to the stripe.
"As much as I wanted to win a race, I think there's only one person I'd rather have beat me in this garage and that's Mark," Allgaier said. "I guess Mark ran out (of fuel) right after the start/finish line. I was kind of hoping he'd run out a little bit before so we could run 1-2, just the other way around."
Martin, 52, knew his only chance to record his 96th career win in a national series ? and the first for Turner Motorsports ? was via gas mileage.
"(Crew chief) Trent (Owens) made a brave call to come in and get our service at the last caution and it put us in position," Martin said. "We only had one chance to win. That was to make it on fuel and some of the guys in front of us not. ? I can't gloat. If Brad hadn't had a tire problem, it looked to me he was going to win. All I could do was make sure we didn't run out of gas."
Martin, who carries the same Go Daddy.com colors worn by Patrick in the Cup series, was excited by her showing.
"That's awesome. ? fantastic," Martin said. "Great run at Phoenix last week as well for her. I'm really happy for her."
Pole-sitter Carl Edwards and Roush-Fenway teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were running 1-2 and in command of the race until mileage came into play in the final 20 laps.
"I wondered if (other drivers) were going to stretch it from their last stop and they did," said Edwards, who finished sixth behind Trevor Bayne. "This Mustang belongs in victory lane. I did all I could and my guys did all they could. We made the right decisions on the set-up. In hindsight, it's easy to say we should have stopped (for fuel). But if we had gotten a caution at the end we would have won this thing by a mile."
Edwards appeared destined to duke it out with Denny Hamlin after Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch crashed on Lap 131 of 200. Busch, a Las Vegas native, might have had the fastest car on his home track. He led a race-high 84 laps but wasn't around for the last 70, finishing 30th.
After taking four fresh tires and dropping to ninth, Busch was pressing to make up ground. Going low in an attempt to pass two cars at once, Busch said Keselowski came down to block.
"I didn't want to run into him," said Busch, who was forced onto the apron and went sliding through the infield grass, eventually tagging the wall.
"I know the grass typically doesn't work out, so I looked kind of stupid doing that," he said. "(I) tried to hang onto it and just couldn't get it back straight in enough time. ? That's why I run these races ? to learn and not do it tomorrow (in the sold-out Kobalt 400 Sprint Cup race)."
Defending race champion Kevin Harvick started the race like a rocket, coming from fourth place to lead the first eight laps but ran into the back of Brian Scott and finished 28th, 32 laps down. Reed Sorenson finished 11th, good enough to take a two-point lead over Stenhouse (eighth on Saturday) in the series standings.
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