Patrick remains frequent topic despite looming playoffs

Sep 14, 2017 - 7:27 PM The most diminutive driver in NASCAR's premier series, has Danica Patrick made an out-sized impression on the sport?

The answer is a definitive maybe. Absent Patrick's participation since 2012, the slide in attendance and television ratings might have been worse. But since she never once posted a finish in the top five and rarely looked like a contender to win, her legacy is primarily one of changing the perception of NASCAR racing.

It went from macho to, well, macho plus Danica.

"Danica has been a huge part of this sport and turned a lot of people on to racing that might not have otherwise been turned on to racing," said Kevin Harvick, her teammate on the Stewart-Haas Racing team that decided not to renew her contract after six seasons.

"The impact and the footprint that she has brought to our sport is big. On the other side of that, you have the performance side of things that at some point measures into everybody's sponsorship."

Harvick spoke those words during the media day in Charlotte designed to promote the playoffs among 16 drivers starting on Sunday at the Chicagoland Speedway.

In addition to questions about how drivers were feeling about their chances, their teams and their most recent performances, queries came up regularly about Patrick, who has not qualified for the postseason during her six years in the Cup series.

An obviously talented IndyCar driver who won a race at the daunting Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan, it's a shame Patrick has joined a long list of IndyCar drivers who had trouble adapting to the stock cars of NASCAR.

She nearly won the Indy 500 in her rookie year and finished third at the Brickyard's open-wheel event in 2009 four years later.

Patrick left IndyCars for much the same reason as Sam Hornish, Jr. and Dario Franchitti -- the spotlight and money were bigger in NASCAR. She stuck around longer because she had major sponsorship from GoDaddy.com. Once that ran out, Patrick soon ran adrift.

It's best to pause here to point out that Patrick did not have sponsorship due to a pretty face. If that's all it took to get corporations to spend millions, then the racing world would be flush with attractive women behind the wheel.

Anybody who watched Patrick's breathtaking qualifying run at Indy her rookie season -- and the race that followed -- would have been blind not to see her talent. Coupled with a pretty face and diminutive female figure, Danica-mania quickly became a focus of derision from the macho types who saw Patrick as an affront to racing tradition.

Patrick eventually scored seven podium finishes in addition to her victory and three poles in 115 IndyCar races, respectable numbers. But she ran aground in NASCAR in both the now renamed Xfinity Series and what is currently the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup. In 180 Cup races, she has only seven top 10s, one pole and 64 laps led.

Perhaps the biggest indictment of Patrick's performance is the comparison to some of her peers who were also in front-line equipment but not necessarily regular contenders to win. Juan Pablo Montoya, Regan Smith, Paul Menard, A.J. Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Marcos Ambrose and David Reutimann all managed to break through to Victory Lane at least once.

The conclusion is not hard to fathom: Her upbringing in IndyCar made it a difficult transition to NASCAR.

There's also the lingering suspicion that 99 percent of those in the NASCAR garage never believed she could win, making it difficult to find a dedicated crew to back her ambition, which is self-evident for any driver who has competed for the last 13 years in major league racing. She had the needed support at Andretti Autosport, which was a key element to her win at Motegi.

In NASCAR, the prejudice against a female driver led to more on-track incidents than necessary, including one almost laughable occasion where Kasey Kahne deliberately tried to run her down for no reason other than he had just been passed by a girl and he was having a lousy day.

The drivers in Charlotte had good things to say about Patrick, confirming that she's respected on and off the track. The plaudits didn't just come from her teammates, boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. or other Ford drivers.

"She's an amazing person," said Kyle Larson, who drives a Chevy for Chip Ganassi. "It's been a lot of fun to get to become close friends with Danica. I hope she can find something. She's already done so much for our sport, though. She could leave right now and she's made a great impact on it. She'll have a lot of other things."

By competing at the highest levels of American racing, Patrick has opened doors if not some eyes. The next-best thing would be the double -- running the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day. (With Stewart-Haas reducing its entries to three cars next year, the team would be a likely candidate to back this gambit on the NASCAR side -- or perhaps both at Indy and in Charlotte.) The double would put Patrick in rare company and demonstrate once again that women are not necessarily the weaker sex.

Since she is a mere 35 years old, it's likely Patrick will have some good opportunities to win the Indy 500. A victory there would certainly calm down -- or perhaps further enrage -- the critics who think she's just another pretty face. The prospect of her returning to take care of unfinished business at Indy would likely generate the needed sponsorship.

Don't expect to see Patrick settle for a midfield ride in NASCAR with one of the lesser-funded charter teams. Initially getting help managing her career from her father T.J., Patrick, she has been shrewd about career choices. With an average starting position of 24th in the Cup and an average finishing position of 25th, results with a lesser team are not likely to advance her racing ambitions.

So far, it's been a checkered career -- in not necessarily the most upbeat sense of the word associated with winning.