8:49 PM
JD
Patrick has two decent finishes of 14th and 17th already this year, but after a hard-to-swallow partial season last year, Patrick needs to feel like she belongs in NASCAR to stay in NASCAR.
For the past six months or more, most NASCAR articles written about Danica Patrick have been mostly negative. Due to the nature of her current contract with JR Motorsports, much speculation has been given as to whether Patrick will ever fully move over to NASCAR from open wheel racing. With that speculation comes the opinions by many that Patrick is not worthy of a seat in NASCAR.
For the most part, Danica's record in the Indycar series has been mostly unimpressive. She has only one win, at Motegi, Japan, and has never finished in the top three in the championship standings. Patrick only has six podium (top three) finishes in six years on the Indycar circuit. Hardly dominating.
Danica Patrick's poor finishes seemed to follow her to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010 while driving a limited schedule for JR Motorsports. Patrick had an average finish of 28th during the 2010 season, leaving little hope that Patrick would find success in NASCAR and opening the door to many critics who point at Patrick's past results as what to expect.
What many of those critics will not tell you is how Patrick has done in the Indianapolis 500. Patrick has raced in the premier open wheel race six times and although she has yet to win, she has consistently finished well. Patrick's best finish in the Indy 500 came in '09 when she finished 3rd to Helio Castroneves. Danica's average finish over the six years is a solid 8.5, which includes top ten finishes in five out of six races.
On Saturday, Patrick began the race in Las Vegas in 22nd. Midfield. Toward the end of the race, Patrick was caught a lap down, in 17th, with little hope of a good finish. Then came that lady who occaisionally visits Las Vegas. Lady Luck. Due to a late race caution, Patrick was able to get her lap back and with a few pitstops by lead lap teams and a car in the wall, Patrick was able to snatch up her first top five finish in NASCAR.
After the race, Patrick was asked how she felt about being the first woman to get a top five in the Nationwide series. Patrick seemed like she was fighting to contain her elation. She had few words. She was possibly just relieved that her critics would be quiet for a bit. Maybe she was surprised. Either way, she probably was just glad to feel like she belonged.
For more by Joseph Davis, visit The Spotter Stand and follow him on Twitter @the_Bumpdrafter
Posted in: Dale Earnhardt Jr,Danica Patrick,Indycar,Nascar,Nascar Blog,Nascar Nationwide Series,nascar news
1 comments:
As Far as driving is concerned, Danica's a work in progress. To her credit she seems to take the negative discourse in stride and appears to be capable of figuring things out.
One of the knocks I've heard concerning NASCAR is her lack of commitment to stock car racing... It goes like this: "How's she going to be a good NASCAR driver if she splits her time with IndyCar?" And I have to say every NW race she drives in looks like a learning session. At Daytona she was being lessoned by Dale Jr. on the partnership dancing deal while the race was going on. Shouldn't that have been worked on during practice? Was she at a photo shoot or making a commercial when the other drivers were out there logging laps? It's that type of thing that makes me question just how much she really wants to drive with the fender rubbers...
Thanks J.D.!
Post a Comment