KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Danica Patrick already had made a splash on the Indy Racing League scene even before her historic fourth-place finish in last month’s Indianapolis 500.

After becoming the first woman to lead a lap in the world’s most famous auto race and also ending up with the best-ever finish by a female driver with a fourth-place showing in the 89th running of the event, the 23-year-old Patrick became an overnight media sensation.

She even landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and “Danica Mania” was in full swing.

A victory this weekend at Kansas Speedway very well could catapult the rookie driver beyond superstar status.

“I don’t feel like I have to win any sooner,” said Patrick, who Sunday will enter only her eighth Indy Car race: the Argent Mortgage Indy 300. “I was talking to someone before, and it’s not a matter of, I think, people expecting and me having to win this year; it’s everybody just hoping, you know.

“It would just make such a great story, and it would just follow along with the amount of interest and hype that the year has had. But yet at the same time, I think people aren’t remembering the fact that, I mean, I haven’t been doing it that long. : It takes a lot of people a long time to win a race.”

While Patrick, a former Karting phenom, certainly isn’t guaranteeing a victory on the 1.5-mile tri-oval track in Wyandotte County, her team has fared well at the Speedway.

Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick, wearing sunglasses, signs autographs for fans outside her trailer at Richmond International Raceway in this file photo from Saturday in Richmond, Va. Danica

Last season, Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Buddy Rice held off teammate Vitor Meira by .0051 of a second for the second-closest 1-2 finish in IndyCar Series history.

“I think it’s a track that’s certainly suited to our car,” said Patrick, who sits 11th in the league in driver points. “I think any of the tracks where (Rice or Meira) qualified on pole last year and performed well at are tracks I’m excited about.

“To be honest, I am pretty happy to be going back to the big tracks where I have more experience and as a team we have had a lot more success. The good thing is the car will be very good, and that makes it a lot easier to get comfortable and up to speed.”

Getting accustomed to her new-found celebrity in everything from sexy photo shoots to beating the boys on and off the track has been anything but a struggle, Patrick insists.

“I don’t think I can do anything other than my job,” she said. “You know, it’s something that I never thought about before, until it came up, and I received a lot of e-mails, a lot of, you know, ‘Thank you. You’re an inspiration,’ kind of thing. You know, I wasn’t trying to be. I mean, I’ve only done a few races. I didn’t expect to fall into this role this quickly.

“I’m not doing anything different, and I won’t do anything different because this is what’s gotten me to where I am. That’s the inspiration. It’s just me.”