Sacramento, California – After IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick announced this week that she was making a part-time jump into NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series, JR Motorsports General Manager Kelley Earnhardt offered up this assessment: “I expect her to be eaten up by the wolves.”
He quickly said he was only kidding, but one wonders just how much.
I, too, fear the worst for Patrick, but it has nothing to do with her driving ability. On that score, she has the goods. Unfortunately, she’s going to be playing in an arena that tends to chew up IndyCar talent. Secondarily, the fact that she is a female will likely make her an even more inviting target in that culture.
I’m pleased that the 27-year-old DP will be dicing in the IndyCar Series in the immediate future, driving for Andretti Autosport. Needless to say, she has been good for the series, arguably becoming the face of it.
Getting the lion’s share of attention has its drawbacks, however. When she announced her deal with JR Motorsports, the online message boards quickly filled up with anger-fueled postings that she is overrated and over-hyped. Some suggested that she’s done nothing compared with her Andretti Autosport teammates. She has only one IndyCar win the past two years -- in Japan in 2008 – the critics whined.
Frankly, these claims are misinformed and flat wrong. You have to wonder if these gripers even follow motorsports.
Here’s the evidence: Patrick indeed has 1 win in 81 IndyCar races, but she’s had 16 top-five finishes – a pretty good batting average. She had five top-five finishes this year alone, finishing fifth in the IndyCar Series standings.
By comparison, Marco Andretti has one win in 65 starts, and that one victory came in 2006. Tony Kanaan has won precisely one race the past two seasons. Hideki Mutoh has not a single race win in two seasons with Andretti Autosport. Why isn’t anyone complaining about his lack of victories?
Because he’s not Danica Patrick, that’s why. By the way, Patrick’s fifth in the IndyCar series standings this year topped all three of her teammates.
The simple fact is that DP can drive an Indy car. She’s proven that. Her third-place drive in a less-than-top-tier car at this year’s Indianapolis 500 was masterful. She’s not A.J. Foyt or Mario Andretti, but then nobody else in IndyCar right now is in that galaxy.
What I worry about with Patrick in NASCAR is the same fate that was suffered by Dario Franchitti with his ill-advised jump to NASCAR in 2008. It was an experience steeped in massive frustration and broken bones. All Franchitti did in 2009 is come back and win the IndyCar Series title he won in 2007.
And while 2006 Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. has shown some improvement after two full seasons in NASCAR, he’s never really been in late-race contention for a win. That’s a tough go for a guy who was a consistent champion in the Indy cars.
One of the things that crushes the spirit of IndyCar Series competitors going to NASCAR is that so much depends on cooperation among drivers on the track. That’s tough to swallow when you’ve spent years getting to the top of open-wheel competition by driving your guts out. If you don’t have cooperation among drivers at many of NASCAR’s tracks – or if you don’t have an exceptionally prepared car – you’re not going to prosper.
And woe unto him/her who angers fellow NASCAR competitors. That not only kills all possibility of cooperation, it typically gets you punted into the wall.
Would a young NASCAR up-and-comer or a longtime NASCAR veteran push Patrick into the fence just because she’s a woman who has received massive amounts of media attention for the past five years? Puh-leeze, it’s almost a given.
And this really bites if you’re a race driver. Danica will have to exercise extreme patience on the track, and getting in the face of an offending driver after the race, with TV cameras rolling, won’t play well with the NASCAR crowd. Given Patrick’s typically furious competitive approach, turning the other cheek will not come easy.
The best thing that can happen for DP is to absorb her NASCAR race team’s wisdom, notch some high finishes early and stay clean on the track. Just finishing races will enhance her NASCAR cred.
Who knows? Maybe she’ll take the Nationwide Series by storm. That would be cool, but I sense a rough road ahead.
He quickly said he was only kidding, but one wonders just how much.
I, too, fear the worst for Patrick, but it has nothing to do with her driving ability. On that score, she has the goods. Unfortunately, she’s going to be playing in an arena that tends to chew up IndyCar talent. Secondarily, the fact that she is a female will likely make her an even more inviting target in that culture.
I’m pleased that the 27-year-old DP will be dicing in the IndyCar Series in the immediate future, driving for Andretti Autosport. Needless to say, she has been good for the series, arguably becoming the face of it.
Getting the lion’s share of attention has its drawbacks, however. When she announced her deal with JR Motorsports, the online message boards quickly filled up with anger-fueled postings that she is overrated and over-hyped. Some suggested that she’s done nothing compared with her Andretti Autosport teammates. She has only one IndyCar win the past two years -- in Japan in 2008 – the critics whined.
Frankly, these claims are misinformed and flat wrong. You have to wonder if these gripers even follow motorsports.
Here’s the evidence: Patrick indeed has 1 win in 81 IndyCar races, but she’s had 16 top-five finishes – a pretty good batting average. She had five top-five finishes this year alone, finishing fifth in the IndyCar Series standings.
By comparison, Marco Andretti has one win in 65 starts, and that one victory came in 2006. Tony Kanaan has won precisely one race the past two seasons. Hideki Mutoh has not a single race win in two seasons with Andretti Autosport. Why isn’t anyone complaining about his lack of victories?
Because he’s not Danica Patrick, that’s why. By the way, Patrick’s fifth in the IndyCar series standings this year topped all three of her teammates.
The simple fact is that DP can drive an Indy car. She’s proven that. Her third-place drive in a less-than-top-tier car at this year’s Indianapolis 500 was masterful. She’s not A.J. Foyt or Mario Andretti, but then nobody else in IndyCar right now is in that galaxy.
What I worry about with Patrick in NASCAR is the same fate that was suffered by Dario Franchitti with his ill-advised jump to NASCAR in 2008. It was an experience steeped in massive frustration and broken bones. All Franchitti did in 2009 is come back and win the IndyCar Series title he won in 2007.
And while 2006 Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. has shown some improvement after two full seasons in NASCAR, he’s never really been in late-race contention for a win. That’s a tough go for a guy who was a consistent champion in the Indy cars.
One of the things that crushes the spirit of IndyCar Series competitors going to NASCAR is that so much depends on cooperation among drivers on the track. That’s tough to swallow when you’ve spent years getting to the top of open-wheel competition by driving your guts out. If you don’t have cooperation among drivers at many of NASCAR’s tracks – or if you don’t have an exceptionally prepared car – you’re not going to prosper.
And woe unto him/her who angers fellow NASCAR competitors. That not only kills all possibility of cooperation, it typically gets you punted into the wall.
Would a young NASCAR up-and-comer or a longtime NASCAR veteran push Patrick into the fence just because she’s a woman who has received massive amounts of media attention for the past five years? Puh-leeze, it’s almost a given.
And this really bites if you’re a race driver. Danica will have to exercise extreme patience on the track, and getting in the face of an offending driver after the race, with TV cameras rolling, won’t play well with the NASCAR crowd. Given Patrick’s typically furious competitive approach, turning the other cheek will not come easy.
The best thing that can happen for DP is to absorb her NASCAR race team’s wisdom, notch some high finishes early and stay clean on the track. Just finishing races will enhance her NASCAR cred.
Who knows? Maybe she’ll take the Nationwide Series by storm. That would be cool, but I sense a rough road ahead.
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