Danica Patrick starts strong, fades late at Kentucky

Danica Patrick, who drives the No. 10 Chevrolet, is in her second full-time season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and her second with Stewart-Haas Racing and crew chief Tony Gibson. Patrick, who spent seven years driving open-wheel cars in the IndyCar Series (2005-11), has two career top-10 finishes and one career pole in Sprint Cup.

Danica Patrick had a disappointing end to what started as a promising race Saturday in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

WHERE SHE STARTED: Qualified 10th, advancing to the final round of knockout qualification.

WHERE SHE FINISHED: Patrick faded to a 21st-place finish — the final car on the lead lap — after running in the top 15 for much of the first half of the race.

WHAT SHE SAID: "I'm disappointed," Patrick said. "I know Gibson is too. I'm not sure why it didn't handle well in the last run. It was just too tight. It was good in the first half, but in the second half it wasn't really good. It's disappointing to say the least, because I think we could have finished better. It's too bad for the GoDaddy team."

HOW IT UNFOLDED: Patrick looked to be set up for a top-15 or even a top-10 finish in the 267-lap race, but things began to go away on lap 182 when Patrick restarted seventh after not pitting during a caution. She fell to 20th by lap 201, and things got worse when, as she pitted under green on lap 214, another caution came out. Patrick was the "Lucky Dog" and was able to get back on the lead lap but had to restart 24th when the race resumed.

From there, Patrick gained three spots to 21st, but her Chevy SS was too tight to make up more ground on 1.5-mile oval.

PRE-RACE AMUSEMENT: Patrick made her presence felt during a television interview with Michael Waltrip Racing driver Clint Bowyer before the start of the race. Bowyer dares Patrick to "photo bomb" his pre-race interview with TNT but was caught off guard when she went through with it, as evidenced by the video below:

NEXT RACE: Coke Zero 400, July 5 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

LAST TIME: Started 11th and finished 14th — one of four top-15 finishes in 2013 — on July 6 at arguably one of her best tracks in the series.