NASCAR drivers praise Patrick

Former IRL champion Tony Stewart was happy to see Patrick win her first race, which he believes was long overdue. He expects more wins to come her way now that she has clinched the first one.

"I think she did a great job," Stewart said. "It was nice to see the emotional side that was something other than frustration, because you can tell how bad she's wanted to win there.

"I've done a couple of speaking engagements or autograph sessions with her and I think she's a neat lady and I think she's somebody that has obviously dedicated her whole life to being successful in auto racing in a sport that has been male dominated. I think it was long overdue."

Stewart is among those who believe Patrick would be able to successfully move to NASCAR if she wished. He also joked about her being better to look at than his fellow Cup colleagues in the garage.

"I think obviously she's got talent," he added. "She's been successful in every form of racing she's been in so far and I don't see why she wouldn't be successful here.

"Not to mention she would be a lot better to look at than somebody like Jimmy Spencer, somebody who's a good friend of mine. She wouldn't be rough to look at in the garage area."

Sprint Cup Series points leader Jeff Burton also praised Patrick's accomplishment, while saying she has been a consistent top runner in IndyCars for a long time and that winning on fuel mileage is something the best Cup drivers do as well.

"I was really impressed," Burton said. "You can't say she won on fuel mileage and then not say Jimmie Johnson won on fuel mileage. Give her a break.

"Every week when you watch the race she runs in the top 10. She consistently runs from fourth to eighth, that's what it looks like to me."

However Burton says that it would be tough for Patrick to replicate her open-wheel success in NASCAR, due to the marked differences between IndyCars and stock cars.

"I don't know," he said. "I think it's a harder transition to go from an open wheel type car to this than people think. I don't know if she could do it or not. Ask (Juan) Montoya how hard this is.

"I'm not saying that we're the best drivers, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is it takes different stuff, a different driving style to run well in these cars than it does in a high downforce, high-grip type of race car. I don't know if she could do it. I don't have a clue."

Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer were also among those showing praise for Patrick's achievement, also speaking about the momentum that her win is giving to open-wheel racing in the United States.

Since Patrick led the Indianapolis 500 in 2005, NASCAR has shown interest in the female racer and a number of women are currently trying to work their way up through the ranks.

Erin Crocker has recently competed in some Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series races with some success, while Chrissy Wallace made her Truck debut at Martinsville and is scheduled to compete in the full series next year.

NASCAR has also been working on trying to promote female racers into their National Series through their Diversity Programme. Kristin Bumbera and Lindsey King are currently part of their programme, competing in NASCAR's lower ranks.