By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The Indy Racing League may be making its final stop at Michigan International Speedway for a very long time this weekend.
The IRL is not on the 2008 schedule for MIS.
So the winner on Sunday in the Firestone Indy 400 will be special.
One driver hoping to grab that championship is Danica Patrick.
Patrick is currently seventh in the IRL point standings, but has yet to win a race in her career. She would love to win anywhere, but a Michigan win would be special.
"First off, it is a shame that we might not be coming back (to Michigan)," Patrick said during a teleconference from MIS on Wednesday. "But it would be a special win at such a historic track like MIS. The only shortcoming is that if I win there, I wouldn't be returning to defend it."
A victory by Patrick would be historic in many ways. She would become the first woman to win an Indy Racing League race and the first woman to win an open-wheel race in America in a premier series.
But Patrick isn't worried about making history. She has already done that – leading the Indianapolis 500 in 2006. She is the first woman to capture an IRL pole.
She just wants to win races and a championship for her new team – Andretti Green Racing.
Michigan has not been that kind to Patrick, although she feels like it has been just a matter of bad luck.
Last year Patrick was 10th when she ran out of gas and dropped to 17th. She also learned that you never take your foot off the gas at a place like Michigan.
"I lifted off the throttle, and then all of a sudden I'm back in 12th, and there's just no getting back," she said. "Last year, we didn't necessarily qualify great and I didn't feel real fast. I think the race cars at AGR are quite good, as well as my pit stops. I gain positions now in the pits and at a place like Michigan it is important."
There are just five racing remaining in the IRL season, so if Patrick is going to win in 2007 she needs to step on the gas.
And Michigan could be just the place to do it.
"Michigan is interesting because it's such a flat-out track and you can get out there and catch a couple of breaks," Patrick said. "It might be an easier one (than the others) to win at."
Sunday's Firestone Indy 400 will begin with the command to fire engines given by grand marshal Al Unser Sr. shortly after noon.