DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick showed up at a sunny and already-steamy Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday afternoon dressed fittingly in a short-sleeved black polo – embroidered with her Nature's Bakery sponsorship, of course -- jean shorts and her hair in a pony tail.
After greeting a crowd of mostly local reporters and speedway officials, she took her place behind a table alongside executive chef Mikell Blocker and the two prepared the track's newest namesake offering of "Danica's Coke and Lime Cilantro Shrimp Wraps" with cameras flashing and television cameras rolling. Patrick, an accomplished cook, paused often to offer the assembled onlookers some culinary advice and food wisdom.
Before a quick exhibition of frisbee golf under the pavilion – Patrick dominated that competition with reporters – she took questions, touted the upcoming July 2 Coke Zero 400 (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) race here and spoke about her season, her career and her expectations.
Patrick was clearly in her element. Both preparing good food and racing on Daytona's high banks have been pleasurable pursuits for the 2013 Daytona 500 pole-winner.
"It was definitely the preferable view," Patrick said, fondly recalling her first time leading a lap at Daytona in the 2011 XFINITY Series race at DIS.
Of the 64 total laps she’s led in the XFINITY Series, 34 were on the 2.5-mile Daytona superspeedway. She's led seven laps in Cup competition here and paced the field 16 laps at NASCAR’s biggest track, Talladega Superspeedway.
Just being at the sport's flagship facility in Daytona brings good vibes. And she'll take 'em.
Patrick has scored five top-20 finishes through the first 13 races this season, earning a best of 13th place at the 1-mile Dover International Speedway three weeks ago.
The series doesn't arrive for its second Daytona stop for another month, but it's a date that Patrick always at least tacitly knows. It's a race that she always feels highly competitive participating in despite the daunting nature of speedway racing.
She figures she's taken to NASCAR's most famous track in Daytona in much the same way she took to excelling in the Indianapolis 500 when she competed in IndyCars.
"I've always had the good fortune of driving for good teams that have good cars," Patrick said of her No. 10 Chevrolet fielded by Stewart-Haas Racing.
"My IndyCar background is very similar to the style of superspeedway racing in NASCAR: Full speed, flat out, don't lift if you don't have to and just keep your momentum up. For me that was the one thing coming to NASCAR that was like my IndyCar days. It's about making good decisions.
"And getting to the end isn't just half the battle, it's the majority of the battle," Patrick says of racing at Daytona. "You definitely come into a speedway race with the assumption you may not be taking that car home on one piece."
That's happened to Patrick the last two times she's competed here. She has had back-to-back 35th place finishes after being caught up in a wreck in both races. On the other side of that, she has two top-10 finishes at Daytona (eighth-place runs in 2013 and 2014) which equate to one-third of her career top-10 total in Cup.
She was optimistic this week speaking about her chances and expectations at the upcoming Daytona race, yet acknowledged the 2016 season hasn't gone exactly as she'd prefer. Patrick is paired with her third crew chief in as many years -- Billy Scott -- and explained there is a natural time progression to get accustomed to one another at this level of competition.
"We showed up in Daytona and had never had an on-track conversation before," Patrick said. "I had never been on track and talked to him about what the car did and there we were at Daytona. [The next race at] Atlanta was baptism by fire.
"I feel like when a good combination comes together it tends to stick for awhile, and I hope that's Billy and I.
"I know there's no substitute for time on some level. That doesn't mean you can't push and try to get better. For me, it's about approaching things in a different way and seeing if we can't get better results.
"I feel like we need to step it up, some adjustments need to be made to get better. If we keep doing the same things, we'll get the same results. We need to change our approach and need to improve for sure. We've been about 20th all year and it's not good enough. I want to at least get back to where we were, lead laps and get top-15 finishes and be competitive each weekend and be mad if we didn’t qualify in the top 12.
"We need to put ourselves in position to win races. But that takes work and I know that."
Having covered Patrick, 34, long before she arrived fulltime in NASCAR, I know the extreme drive she possesses, the determination, the expectation.
Listening to her speak about her career – her fondness for stock car racing and her intense desire to win at the Cup level – it's apparent that she is fully committed to success here. And not afraid to put in the work. She doesn't make excuses.
"For me, I've realized how important so many elements are to being successful," Patrick said. "It's not just the team, not just the driver, not just luck, it's all those things. Everything has to be on.
"I feel like that's why there's so much pride and excitement when you do get to Victory Lane -- because it's so hard.
"I feel like at any point in NASCAR you can see great drivers struggle for a year and then all of a sudden come back. We as drivers don't forget how to drive, it's just getting all the puzzle pieces together. That's what I feel like I've learned the most about NASCAR is how many elements have to come together and how much work it is from both a personal standpoint on the team to getting it done on track."
That's work that she has always been willing to put in.
"I have been blessed with an extreme amount of opportunities in my career and I would not change a thing," Patrick said. "Every now and again, I may feel like it's a little tougher out there for me and I feel like I've heard other people say it looks a little harder for me out there.
"At the end of the day, my job as a driver is to pass the car that's in front of me. If it's difficult, it's difficult and I just have to work that much harder. I'm not looking for anyone to move over," she said allowing a slight smile and joking, "Unless you're lapped traffic."