Danica: "It's always a good time."

Rahal Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick is looking forward to this weekend's SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio "Under the lights." "I'm looking forward to the race and I'm happy to be on a short oval. It's always a good time," said Patrick during her Thursday press conference.

Danica enjoys the challenge of racing on the tightest oval on the IRL circuit. "One thing with the short ovals is that cars change. Tires go off and you're not going straight for very long. When the tires go off, that means that you're struggling. That definitely changes positions and causes for good racing, and that's good for the fans as well as for the drivers to stay entertained. It's always fun to pass people: that always feels good. You just hope you're not on the other side of that. Although she was only able to post the 16th fastest time during Thursday's test session, Patrick remains optimistic. "As a team we're struggling," she said. "We have a lot of things to work out. But as long as I'm making the most of what I have, I'm fine."

Patrick, last year's IRL Rookie of the Year, thinks that the Penske and Ganassi teams will be tough to beat this weekend. "I don't think we're going to be as fast as Penske this year. But never rule us out. We've got a staff of engineers that are working really hard and crunching numbers. To catch them is going to be hard. That's just credit to them for working hard. At some point in time, we were those people. Could they catch us? No, not at times. It switches, it changes. That's what keeps it interesting.