Patrick to learn from Zipadelli, just as Stewart did

The defending Sprint Cup champion will have much more to grin about if Danica Patrick can soar under the tutelage of Greg Zipadelli just as Stewart did 13 years ago.

With Zipadelli as her crew chief, Patrick turned her first laps in the No. 10 Chevrolet she will attempt to qualify for her Cup debut Feb. 26 in the Daytona 500. That also will mark the first race at Stewart-Haas Racing for Zipadelli, who left Joe Gibbs Racing to become Stewart’s competition director last month but has been pressed into duty as Patrick’s interim crew chief.

• PHOTOS: Images of Danica Patrick

“I feel really comfortable with him so far,” said Patrick, who left the Izod IndyCar Series to concentrate full time on NASCAR in 2012. “I feel respected, and he’s been very patient. He doesn’t look at me like I’m inexperienced or I should be used to it. He says, ‘No problem, let’s get it right.’ “

Their instant rapport has triggered pleasant memories for Stewart, who left IndyCar for Cup in 1999 and spent the next 10 seasons with Zipadelli as crew chief.

“It’s nice having Zippy back,” Stewart said. “Seeing him at the track was the first big reminder of what it was like to start with him in ’99. It feels like home again.”

Said Zipadelli, who met Patrick a week ago: “She’s easy. She gets along with all the guys. It’s just no drama at all.”

Patrick, who will run 10 Cup races this year, turned the eighth-fastest lap at 191.473 mph in a morning practice marred only by missing the entrance to the garage and struggling to learn the names of her new crewmembers.

“There’s so many people, I don’t know who everyone is yet,” Patrick said. “Just like probably going to the first day of school, you want to make a good impression. I didn’t want to trip like that, but it’s probably not that big of a deal.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who owns the Chevy driven by Patrick fulltime in the Nationwide Series, said Patrick did a good job of blending in at the 2.5-mile oval.

“I didn’t even remember that she was supposed to be here until (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) told me,” Earnhardt said. “She’s been relatively quiet, and that’s probably good for her to be able to come in and work and get everything done she wants to and concentrate on her driving and new team.”

As a startup team, Patrick’s car isn’t guaranteed a spot in Daytona. Stewart said the team was mulling options for supplying Patrick with points that would avoid the need to qualify but added, “I’ve got the utmost confidence that even in the worst-case scenario, we’ve got the right driver that can get this car in the race, no problem.”

Said Patrick, who finished sixth in her Daytona debut at an ARCA race two years ago: “I don’t just want to be here, I want to run well. At a place like Daytona, there’s that opportunity.”

No talking please: In a move that should help curb the two-car drafting that became prevalent at Daytona and Talladega last season, NASCAR has banned in-race communication between drivers at all races. Restricting the radio chatter would make it harder to maintain the tandem racing, which track officials say hasn’t been received well by fans, and Sprint Cup director John Darby said it also would enhance safety. “Drivers weighed in that, with (monitoring) 20-30 radio channels (of other drivers), there was a point that it got so confusing they lost focus on what they were doing and felt better if they could get back to more standard communications. Matt Kenseth said it best: Anything NASCAR can do to get it back to one against 42 others, he supports.”

Pit notes:Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson, is skipping the Daytona test for a South Africa vacation. Car chief Ron Malec and Greg Ives are leading the No. 48 Chevrolet in Knaus’ absence and being helped by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Steve Letarte, the crew chief for Earnhardt. “This is one of those places you can orchestrate a test plan and not come up with a lot of answers until you get home and look through the data,” Letarte said. …Richard Petty Motorsports announced a 15-race primary sponsorship with Smithfield Foods for Aric Almirola, who signed with the team last week.