Then again, anything would be an improvement over last year.

Patrick twice ran as high as third for several laps, but a stop on lap 69 for fuel dropped her back to 10th.

``We have made some very good progress in the last year on the road courses. I was proud of how we raced when we were up front. I was racing with Tony (Kanaan) and Dario (Franchitti) and they are two of the more experienced road course drivers in the series. And we were holding our own.''

A year ago, Patrick battled an ill-handling car around the 12-turn, 2.26-mile course all weekend. Her race ended on the 19th lap when she was collected by Ryan Briscoe in a crash that also eliminated Helio Castroneves.