Indy 500: Danica Patrick's Finish Almost As Good As a Win

It was a long month for Danica Patrick and Andretti Autosport, but her top-five finish in the Indy 500 perhaps indicates momentum has taken a positive turn for her.

Patrick has complained about tracks and about her car since the season began.  She was 16th in the IndyCar points standings going into today's race.  Her surprising finish took her to 12th in points.

The first laps of the race looked as though she was in for a long day in the GoDaddy.com No. 7 Dallara-Honda.

The car was very loose and appeared a bit treacherous as the driver struggled at the wheel to maintain control.

She pitted during an early caution and fuel was added, but no adjustments were made.  Her team hoped the car would come to her as the race played out.

As the laps continued, Patrick fought the loose race car and it looked like just a matter of time until it swapped ends on her.

Her average lap speed reflected her lack of confidence in the car.

Tony Kanaan, her teammate was able to bring his car from last place in the 33 car field to 15th by lap 45.

Patrick's position improved as racing incidents continued to take cars out of the field. By the mid-point of the race she was the fastest of the four women drivers.

Danica Patrick remained calm as she stabilized her position around the 12th to 14th place.  She did all the right things with pit stops and drove around the many on track events.

As the race headed into the final laps, fuel shortages and accidents were factors that proved detrimental to the drivers that looked to be contenders for the win except for Dario Franchitti.  He led the most laps and was the winner of the Indy 500.

A terrifying crash with Mike Conway changed the dynamics once again as the field scrambled around the debris and Franchitti, low on fuel, took the checkered flag under caution conditions.

When the final stats were announced, Danica had cleared the debris of the wreck and placed her car in fifth position.  She finished ahead of the other members of Andretti Autosports who had raced ahead of her until the race came to it's exciting finale.

After the race Danica attributed her finish to "great pit stops."  She once again apologized for her comments after qualifying and praised her team for their actions during the race.

Patrick proved today that when she remained calm and collected that she could achieve good results.

Hopefully she changed the negative mojo that has been challenging her.

Today at the Indianapolis 500, a fifth place finish was darn near as good as a win for Danica Patrick.

Disclaimer: This article was printed before the IRL released its official results. Those official results show Danica Patrick finished 6th and Marco Andretti finished 3rd. These changes are rare, but not uncommon and are beyond the control of the journalist.