Danica Patrick has earned her spot in NASCAR
“She is a woman.”
“She can’t drive with the big boys.”
“She can’t muscle a 3,400 pound race car and keep control of it.”
These are a few of the unwarranted things that people kept saying about Danica Patrick moving over to NASCAR.
I kept getting a lot of people asking me, “How do you feel about Danica Patrick coming over to NASCAR?”
Initially, I was one of the people who felt it was cool if Patrick wanted to try NASCAR, but that she should wait and master the Indy Car Series first. To be fair, Patrick has been racing on the Indy Car Series for about four years, with only one win to her credit.
One problem that I could foresee Patrick wrangling with as she crossed over into NASCAR was her notorious temper. It is true that many drivers have tempers, but Patrick takes it too far. A couple of years ago, she had a car to win at Michigan International Speedway. With less than 10 laps to go, she ran out of gas. She parked at the end of pit road, stomped her feet, and threw a fit. I thought to myself, did she really just do that on national television?
Patrick made her stock car debut two weeks ago in the ARCA Series. The ARCA Series is similar to NASCAR but has a different name;with slightly different cars and slightly different racing tires. Patrick started 12th and was running her race and then she spun out on the front stretch. Instead of panicking, she took control of the car, corrected it and came back to finish 6th. Her stock car racing debut was aired on Speed. Usually the ARCA Series doesn’t get much television coverage but their ratings were through the roof because of Patrick.
Last week, she made her NASCAR debut, driving the #7 Godaddy.com Chevy for JR Motorsports. Qualifying was washed out, so she started 15th due to the car owner points from last year. She was running a respectable race; then on lap 69, she ran into trouble, which occurred right in front of her, and almost made it through. At the last minute, the hole closed and she had nowhere to go.
To me, she had a good day. She was learning how to report information to the crew, working the draft, and being respectful. It was a shame she crashed, but that is one of the known risks of racing.
I love what Dale Earnhardt Jr. is doing with Patrick. He is gradually working her into NASCAR by running some ARCA races and Nationwide races. I am glad that they aren’t throwing her into the Sprint Cup series and expecting her to win right away. This is a steep learning curve, for her but she has a lot of talent and people who are willing to help. Her NASCAR experience will undoubtedly help her in the Indy Car Series. She hasn’t proven herself with the Indy Car Series but I predict she’ll be better in NASCAR than she was in the Indy car series.