Motorsports Monday: Danica Patrick Has Her Moment With Daytona 500 Pole (VIDEO)

NASCAR Sprint Cup: Through all her ups and downs, there has never been any question that Danica Patrick is fast. If fans had forgotten, she reminded them all on Sunday by winning pole position for the Daytona 500 with a speed of 196.434 mph.

With the pole, Patrick becomes the first woman to ever earn pole position in NASCAR history. Her brand new No. 10 Chevrolet SS will start alongside Jeff Gordon on the front row, when the biggest race in NASCAR drops the green flag next Sunday. The other drivers will sort out their starting order during the qualifying race on Thursday.

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American Le Mans Series: The 2013 ALMS season doesn't begin until the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, but the drama is already well underway. As first reported by SPEEDTV (article here), Extreme Speed Motorsports will switch from their Ferrari in the GT class to an Acura HPD-ARX in the P2 class – a move that could effectively save P2 moving forward.

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GRAND-AM Racing: Also first reported by SPEEDTV (article here), Ford will bring custom chassis Daytona Prototypes with turbocharged EcoBoost engines to GRAND-AM in the 2014 season, when the series merges with ALMS. Ford will join major manufacturers like Chevrolet and BMW as the top-level competitors in GRAND-AM.

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