Danica Patrick Proved She Was Racy in Texas

The hot, steamy Texas night revealed a very racy Danica Patrick under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway during the Firestone 550K.

Patrick started the race 12th in the Izod IndyCar points standings and eighth place in the field of 26 cars.

During the first caution, the GoDaddy.com No. 7 was serviced in under eight seconds.

She restarted the race on lap 53 in third position.

The input from Ziggy Harcus, her team strategist appeared to be giving Danica and her team the much needed confidence.

Patrick had a great setup on the car that allowed her to pass high and low on the banked one-and-a-half mile track.  Her team was giving her perfect pit stops.

With 100 laps remaining, Patrick was running fourth behind Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon respectively.

On lap 171 out of 228, Patrick was running second behind Briscoe.

Patrick made a green flag pit stop on lap 192 and the efficiency of her team put her in the lead when she returned to the track. 

Briscoe was running second to her and after a brief side by side battle. He resumed the lead after passing her on the outside with the assistance of the push to pass button.

Harcus said of his driver, "she is driving a great race."  Patrick was quiet on the radio which was the sign of a happy driver.

Ryan Briscoe, a Penske driver took the checkered flag with Danica Patrick in second position 1.4 seconds behind the leader.

Danica Nation had reason to cheer tonight as she showed she could indeed do battle with the boys and drove a beautiful race.

After the race Patrick thanked her crew and was happy people were watching her, but it was obvious she wanted the win.

Job well done, Danica.