What is best result ever for a woman in Xfinity Series? Everything you need to know about Danica Patrick's historic NASCAR feat

Danica Patrick remains to be one of the few women who raced in NASCAR in some capacity. Her previous track record in the IndyCar Series was impressive and landed her a seat in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports.

Patrick debuted in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (previously known as Nationwide Series) in 2010 with JR Motorsports as a part-time driver. She took part in 13 races but finished out of the top 20 in 12 of them. Her best result came at Homestead-Miami with a P19 finish. While doubts were raised against Patrick that season, she returned to race with the team in 2011 and pulled off the best Xfinity result for a female driver in the history of the sport.

Racing at Las Vegas in only the season's third race, Danica Patrick finished fourth, creating history. To date, that has been the highest finish for a female in the Xfinity Series. She also managed to finish within the top 10 in another two races that season and remained far more competitive than her debut.

JR Motorsports then signed her for a full-time season in 2012 and she signed a part-time contract with Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series. Although the latter did not yield a very competitive result, Patrick did finish 10th in the Xfinity Series.

---

Veteran NASCAR driver compares Danica Patrick's Indy success, supports Hailie Deegan's move

Danica Patrick had a tough challenge as she debuted full-time in the Cup Series in 2013. She only had seven top-10 finishes throughout her career until 2018 and was regularly involved in on-track incidents.

While she became a target for the sport's critics, her success in open-wheel racing was enough to prove her competitiveness as a racer. Debuting in the IndyCar Series in 2005, Patrick remained one of the most competitive drivers on the track. Her victory in Japan in 2008 is still the only IndyCar win by a female driver.

Following in her footsteps, former Xfinity driver Hailie Deegan is also set to move to IndyCar. She made her full-time debut with AM Racing this season but was replaced after the first 17 races and other guest drivers were called to fill in her seat.

Earlier in October, HMD Motorsports announced Deegan as the driver for their #38 car in the Indy NXT series for the 2025 season.

Veteran NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace sees this as a positive sign for her. Claiming that the "jealous men" in NASCAR are not ready for a woman driver, he said:

"The reason why I think this is a good idea, this is a controversial take, and I know it is, they can't run into her. Like they did in NASCAR. There's so many jealous men that race in NASCAR that they could take the vehicle and use it like a weapon and they would just run into her and spin around and wreck her, and it happened all the time, we watched it." [01:00 onwards]

He also mentioned that Danica Patrick was successful in IndyCar, feeling that it could be the turn of fate for Deegan as well.

"So, she says to hell with this NASCAR, they're not ready for a woman. NASCAR is not ready for a lady racer. I said it, I said it. So she goes over the IndyCar and if you know there's Danica Patrick had success over there, and I believe this is a better opportunity for Hailie and here's why, because you cannot take your IndyCar and run into another competitor because it will break your own car."

Danica Patrick took part in her final race in the 2018 season-opener at Daytona. She currently has moved on from racing but is regularly seen as a presenter in the F1 Grand Prix and as a motorsports pundit.