Danica Patrick heard
Kyle Petty's criticism that she would never be a true race car driver, but it seemed to go in one ear and out the other.
Patrick finished 23rd and on the lead lap at Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway, Sporting News Nascar reports.
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Patrick ran the race just a few days after former racer and current Fox and TNT sports commentator Kyle Petty called her a “marketing machine” and “not a race car driver” on Speed TV's "NASCAR Race Hub."
"She can go fast, but she can't race. I think she's come a long way, but she's still not a race car driver. And I don't think she's ever going to be a race car driver," Petty said on the show.
But it didn’t put a crimp in the 31-year-old speed demon’s style.
"I really don't care," she said at the race, according to ESPN. "There's going to be people who believe in you and people who don't. Plenty of people say bad things about me. I see it on Twitter. Some people want me to die. But at the end of the day, you get over that stuff and trust you're doing a good job for the people who believe in you."
Patrick has struggled this year, and her only Top 10 finish was in the Daytona 500, where she finished eighth, ESPN reported.
But give her time.
“This is my second full year in NASCAR, and it's in Cup Series," she told the sports network. “I definitely think I'm feeling the car better, and over time, it will result in a car set up for me to drive harder, faster and better.”
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