Danica Patrick, spokeswoman for web host and domain name provider
Go Daddy, has become the first woman to take a NASCAR Sprint Cup pole position for the Daytona 500. Illinois native Ms Patrick, who has been the focus of many of Go Daddy's most popular commercials - including its famous Super Bowl advertising - posted the fastest qualifying lap of 196.434 MPH.
"When Danica took the pole Sunday, it represented another barrier being broken and another door being opened -- and that makes us incredibly proud. We're ecstatic for Danica and the whole Go Daddy crew in Daytona," explained CEO at Go Daddy, Blake Irving.
Ms Patrick, 30, made history as the first woman to win an IndyCar race in Motegi in Japan in 2008. Much to the delight of Go Daddy, who has been her sponsor from the beginning of her stock car career to the present, her latest achievement has generated a lot of interest in social and mainstream media, bringing NASCAR to a much broader audience base. Her pole placement has kick started a 2013 Go Daddy campaign that promotes the concept of people 'driving results' and achieving their goals through entrepreneurship and leveraging Go Daddy's website options.
Go Daddy is of course enjoying drawing parallels between Ms Patrick's racetrack performance and the performance of their web hosting. The company recently launched a new Content Delivery Network (CDN) system that reduces website load time.
Ms Patrick will race her No. 34 GoDaddy.com Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro next Sunday in the Sprint Cup Series alongside four-time Nascar Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who earned second place. The race will be featured on ESPN starting at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time.
