DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (December 20, 2009)--Tony Eury Jr., crew chief for JR Motorsports Driver Danica Patrick as she makes the transition to stock cars in an ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards test session at Daytona Int'l Speedway this weekend, met with members of the media on Saturday evening, where he indicated that he is pleased with his driver's progress.
"She's doing really good," said Eury. "Drafting is not something that you learn overnight. She has done really good learning how to stay in a pack, learning what the car does in different aero situations. We're pretty pleased. I think I need a little more speed in the car just in single car runs. Overall, it has been a good successful day. We'll come back here tomorrow and let her draft a little bit more and I think we will be game on."
"It's great to work with her. She's got a great personality. She likes having fun but she knows how to be serious at the same time. Just how quick she's adapted to the cars because there's a lot more travel, there's a lot more movement, The cars are a lot heavier than the cars she's typically been around and they've got less downforce so the way she's picked up on it she's done a great job.
"She's cool. She's a blast to be around and all of the guys here are having fun with her. It's just fun having a person with her caliber of popularity to come in here and have a good time. It's fun to be around people like that that have a good outlook on life."
"I think if there's one worry-and it's not even a worry because I know she'll do it-is we just have to accelerate the time that it takes her to get to a track. It took us a full day pretty much for her to be comfortable. When we get to a Nationwide race we've got three hours. That comes from experience. This is her second day in a stock car so by no means am I expecting her to be ‘A Game' right now. As we do tests in the winter and we get one more day under our belt here I think she will get better and better and that will just come with experience."
"She's spot on. We can go back and look at the changes we've made and look at the data and its reading right what she's saying. She's got an awesome feel, she knows what is happening with the car and she relates it really well. She can feel shocks. There's very seldom that you find a driver that can really feel shocks the way she does so that's always a plus when they've got that kind of feel."
Patrick, one of 63 drivers testing ARCA Racing Series cars at Daytona this weekend, will conclude her three-day test today. Testing is open to the public with free access to the Oldfield Grandstands through the lobby of Daytona 500 Experience. In addition, trams will be available to transport race fans into the Sprint FANZONE to view all the testing action for $15.
The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA season opener is on Saturday, February 6, 2010 live on SPEED at 4 p.m. Eastern. Tickets for all Speedweeks 2010 events are available online at http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/ or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP
