Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesDanica Patrick's goal this weekend is simple -- finish every lap at Bristol.BRISTOL, Tenn. -- You know your season isn't going well when you start quoting Austin Powers.
That was the case for Danica Patrick on Friday as she prepared for her first Nationwide-Sprint Cup Series doubleheader at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Patrick has spent much of the past week listening to comments and jokes about running over a shoe while leading Saturday's Nationwide race at Montreal.
She said that has evoked jokes about the Austin Powers movie in which the bad guy hit Powers in the head with a shoe.
"Who throws a shoe, honestly?" Powers said in the movie. "You fight like a woman."
Although Patrick's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., says the shoe had nothing do with a track bar failure that turned into a 27th-place finish, it summed up the way this season has gone for the former IndyCar Series driver.
Patrick actually was asked whether she noticed what kind of shoe it was during Friday's media availability.
"It was dark with a light-colored sole," Patrick said with a straight face. "It looked really funny on the video. It looked like it disappeared. That sucked."
This season hasn't been too good for Patrick, either. She is 11th in the Nationwide standings with three finishes of 27th or worse in her past four starts. Criticism has gotten to the point that Tony Stewart, her team owner in the Sprint Cup Series, is on a "lay off her" campaign.
"I can't remember having this much bad luck in forever," Patrick said. "I don't ever remember feeling like I just can't seem to catch a break for so long and in such big ways, sometimes."
Things likely won't get any easier at Bristol as Patrick makes her Cup debut at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile Track." She finished 19th, two laps down, in the spring Nationwide race and 33rd, 50 laps down after a crash, in last year's spring Nationwide race.
Her goal?
"Finishing all the laps is the most important thing to me," Patrick said.
And avoiding more Austin Powers jokes.
David Newton | email
ESPN Staff WriterABOUT THIS BLOG
David Newton
David Newton, an award-winning NASCAR writer, began as a national motorsports columnist at ESPN.com in December 2006. Prior to joining ESPN.com, Newton served as the lead writer for NASCAR.com.
Newton previously covered NASCAR, the Carolina Panthers, Clemson University and University of South Carolina athletics for The State in Columbia, S.C., from 1984 to 2006. He also served as a correspondent for Sports Illustrated, and covered seven Super Bowls, dozens of college bowl games, five Masters, two U.S. Opens, two men's Final Fours, one women's Final Four and every major race on the NASCAR circuit.
The 1981 Wofford College graduate has won numerous state and national press association awards, including the 2009 Aflac Motorsports Journalism Award and second place in the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) columnist category. He also grabbed second-place national honors for his coverage of University of South Carolina football from the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) in 1992 and the award for excellence in news reporting from the South Carolina State Press Association in 2002. He has broken major national stories, including the Carolina Panthers' steroid scandal in 2004.
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