Morry Gash / AP

“There’s just a little bit of bravery that maybe I lacked a little in the beginning years,” Danica Patrick said. “It’s just having the confidence that you’re going to go into the corner and make it out and beat them.”

She pointed to a moment during this year’s Indy 500 when she felt there was a pass she had to make in a difficult situation.

“I was second and chasing Tony (Kanaan) and I was passing a lapped car between one and two, I think it was Buddy Lazier,” Patrick said. “I thought to myself, ‘This is for the win. If you don’t keep making these passes and keep up with him, you’re not going to win.’

“So I tried making the pass on (Lazier) in the short chute between one and two. It was a brave maneuver and it didn’t pay off because I got passed by a couple of cars after that. But that’s some of the mentality that you need to have to come out on top at the end of the day, and I think Indy was some of the best driving I’ve done in my career.”

Patrick, who joined AGR this year after two seasons with Rahal Letterman Racing, noted that circumstances often dictate how well a driver does.

“In the first year, I had a fast car but I didn’t have a ton of experience and I wasn’t that good in traffic,” she said. “Then, in the second year, I had a car that was slow and I had more experience and I was driving smart but, realistically, I had no chance of winning, really.

“And, this year, I’m with a new team and I only had two test days before the year started. An engineer can’t read my mind and translate that into a perfect efficient chance every time. So this stuff just takes time and certain things just have to be right.

“I think the fact that I almost won my first couple of races in IndyCar says a lot about circumstances,” Patrick said. “Why could that happen? I had a fast car. Things are falling into place now. It’s just a matter of getting it done.”