Throwback Thursday: Danica Patrick in 2008

Rebecca Shore | Jan 22, 2014

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Exactly one month from today the checkered flag will go down at Daytona International Speedway and 31-year-old Danica Patrick will kick off her second season as a full-time driver in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series. Last year at Daytona, Danica became the first woman to earn a pole position at the Sprint Cup level, and closed out the day with an impressive top-10 finish.

When Danica did this shoot for Swimsuit, though, she had yet to make the leap from IndyCar to stock car racing. But even though she made her name in a less popular league, Danica, somehow—somehow—managed to capture America's attention on her own. Once SI caught on to the love affair it was obvious Danica had to be a part of the Swimsuit tradition, so we brought her 200 miles south of Daytona to Florida's Singer Island where she spent the day trying to make the swimsuit/racing gloves combo a thing for photographer Ben Watts. Enjoy the throwback!

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Ben Watts/SI