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Posted by: Bradley McDonald

Congratulations to Danica Patrick, who became only the fourth woman to ever qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Not only did Danica qualify, but she led the race at one point and ended up finishing in fourth place, the highest ever for a woman driver. That's quite an accomplishment, especially when you consider she's only a 23-year old rookie.

Danica Patrick lived up to the hype. Now, what does she do for an encore?

Patrick stole the show at the Indianapolis 500, giving the guys a real run for their money and nearly grabbing the biggest purse in auto racing before finishing fourth.

The 5-foot-2, 100-pound rookie thrilled the 300,000 or so spectators at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway who spent much of the final 30 laps on their feet screaming and cheering as she tried to pull off the biggest upset in 89 years of Indy history.

Englishman Dan Wheldon got to celebrate in Victory Lane and will pocket at least $1.5 million, but Patrick gave Americans a new hero to follow in a sport dominated in recent years by foreign drivers.

In fact, only 14 of the 33 starters in Sunday's race were Americans.

After being the biggest surprise of the month -- turning some of the fastest speeds in practice and qualifying fourth -- the 23-year-old Patrick was almost good enough to take the checkered flag Sunday. She led three times for 19 laps and overcame a stalled engine in the pits and a crash on the track before a nearly empty fuel tank finally cost her this first shot at racing immortality.