KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Danica Patrick, chided by some for being more style than substance during her brief NASCAR career, took a giant step toward silencing her critics Saturday night with an impressive seventh-place finish in the 5-hour Energy 400 at Kansas Speedway. It was a career-best for the diminutive Patrick, eclipsing an eighth-place finish in the 2013 Daytona 500. It was the fourth-best finish by a female driver in NASCAR's top series, trailing fifth- and sixth-place finishes by Sara Christian in 1949 and Janet Guthrie's sixth at Bristol in 1977 (see the table below). "I was like, 'no yellow!' Patrick said of her charge from fifth to third, which came when she shot past Dale Earnhardt Jr. and her team owner and teammate Tony Stewart on Lap 173. More...