JOLIET, Ill. -- Danica Patrick finished 25th on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, the best showing in her young Sprint Cup career.
Patrick was making only her sixth Cup start and hadn't finished higher than 29th. This weekend didn't start much better with a poor qualifying run, but she was encouraged after the race.
"I think we made a lot of progress in the race," she said. "We got a little bit loose toward the end - I feel like lost a little bit of ground in that run. But then in the last run I felt like we got a little bit of that back. ... Ultimately I think it was generally a big improvement on overall lap time throughout a run and that is the kind of stuff we need to be doing."
Patrick was racing at what is essentially her home track. She's from Roscoe.
She finished 12th Saturday in the Nationwide race.
