In her first effort working with new crew chief Tony Gibson, Danica Patrick finished a career-best 24th in Sunday's NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway.

"It was really steady from the beginning," Patrick said. "The car unloaded and it had speed right off the get-go. We just kept on improving with it. I felt like it was a nice progression of the weekend where I actually felt like I knew I why I went faster and I knew why I went slower.

"In the race we were creeping along. We spent most of the race tight, but there late in the race we finally got it freed up enough to start really running some good speed. It was a really nice first weekend with the new Go Daddy crew."

Sunday also marked the first time in nine starts that Patrick has finished on the lead lap in a Sprint Cup Series race, and that left her new crew chief impressed with what he saw.

"It was a great day and a great weekend for the first weekend working together," Gibson said. "Qualifying went really well and practice went really well. She had an awesome race and she did a great job.

"She ran with guys that she's never run with before, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin. To come here and run on the lead lap and a shot at a top-20 was pretty impressive."

That optimism was shared by Patrick, who is excited about what the future holds.

"Tony Gibson did such a good job," she said. "I'm really looking forward to next year."