"This is great from the sport and the rest of us will benefit from it," he said. "I'm proud to sit on the front row with her."

She also said that the wait to see if she had won the pole was made more agonizing because she had gone to work out as other drivers went one by one, trying to best her top lap.

Patrick told CNN that understanding the scope of her achievement "is something that happens down the road. In the moment, it's about thinking about what I need to do for next Sunday and trying to make some more history."