Danica Patrick made an abbreviated appearance on media day at Homestead-Miami Speedway, didn't turn a lap on the first day of the IndyCar Series open test and then came out feeling less than 100 per cent on day two - but she still set the pace.
Despite feeling ill, the Andretti Green Racing driver was the quickest of 16 drivers on the 1.5-mile high-banked Homestead oval, clocking a best lap of 25.0772secs to see off the challenge of Ryan Briscoe and day one pacesetter Dan Wheldon.
"I was sicker than I've ever been before on a day when I had to do something," Patrick admitted, "I was dizzy and my head was full of pressure. I didn't feel balanced - on top of other things. For me, it would have been silly to try and push it and go out there and try and feel the edge at a place like Homestead, where the grip and the intensity level is pretty high compared to the rest of the mile-and-a-halfs, but today was a good day.
"It's kind of nice to go out there, skip a day, go out and be quickest. We were definitely struggling with the race car - until the very end of the day, we were really pushing to figure it out. We definitely didn't have it down but, at the end of the day, we're all walking away pretty happy. The team did a good job of working in the off-season."
Team Penske newcomer Briscoe was second-fastest by a couple of hundredths, the Australian happy to have been on the pace as he works his way back into Indycar action with a new crew.
"It was pretty exciting to run in traffic and just to find my own out there with all the cars," Briscoe said, "It was a good start, a real good test for us at Team Penske. I'm looking forward to getting some more running out there with the guys, and learning more at the first race, but we're really happy with how this test went. I was ready to go racing here by the end of the night."
Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Wheldon, who has won the past three 300-mile races at the track, was third fastest but unable to better his Wednesday time of 25.0619secs.
![Danica Patrick - Andretti Green Racing [pic credit: IRL/Jones]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/335855.jpg)
