Danica Patrick is one of most hyped up Motorsports drivers in history as she tried to prove herself on Motorsports greatest stages but when she jumped into Nascar things got horrible very quickly and basically exposed herself in front of entire world but today's inaugural episode of Racing with Regret I'll look back on Danica Patrick's tenured in Nascar.
Danica Patrick's racing career kickoff in IndyCar Series where she had decent success during her career which included 4 podiums and captured her only win at Twin Motegi which helped her become the biggest face in Motorsports who was heading to Nascar in 2010 with JR Motorsports in Xfinity Series. Danica Patrick would run part-time in 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports and her debut was hyped up massively but she would crash out after getting involved big one on lap 68 which placed her 35th in the race she would run 12 more races during 2010 season (Because she was still running full-time in IndyCar Series) with best finish of 19th at Homestead while having average finish of 28th.
2011 showed improvement for Danica Patrick as she scored her best finish in her entire nascar tenured with 3rd place at Las Vegas while scoring 3 top 10 finishes with average finish of 17th during her 12 race schedule but was coming to full-time competition for 2012 after announcing her retirement from full-time competition in IndyCar. 2012 started out strong by winning the pole for season opener at Daytona but inconsistency was name of game for Danica as she was up and down during the entire season where she managed 4 top 10 finishes and finished 10th in points while making 10 start in Cup Series for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the 10 Go Daddy Chevrolet that had alliance with SHR and managed best finish of 17th at Fall Phoenix race while having average finish of 28th which somehow earned her full-time ride for 2013 season.
Danica Patrick would drive 10 Go Daddy Chevrolet for Stewart Hass Racing but her full-time Cup Series career kickoff with bang by winning pole for Daytona 500 then proceeded to lead 5 laps and finished 8th in the race but season quickly fell apart following Daytona 500 as Rookie mistakes were being made were she got 5 DNFS all of them due to crashes which placed her 27th in final point standings. 2014 season saw improvement as Danica Patrick managed to score 3 top 10 finishes with her best Cup Series finish of 6th at Atlanta but finished disappointing 28th in points which resulted in crew chief change as Tony Gibson was moved to Kurt Busch with 3 races to go and duo managed 2 top 10 finishes to end the season while Daniel Knost moved to Danica Patrick had up and down results to end the season.
2015 was her best season of her entire Cup Series career as she managed 2 top 10 finishes at Spring Bristol and Martinsville races and finished 24th in points but longtime sponsor Go Daddy announced they would depart the sport at season's end which forced her to get new primary sponsor. Nature's Bakery would become the new primary sponsor for Danica Patrick's 10 car and new crew chief Billy Scott would takeover crew chief duties following Daniel Knost release from the team as Billy Scott was in charge of taking Danica into next level heading into 2016 season but instead they both ended up falling down level as Danica failed to score any top 10 finishes during the entire season and finished 24th in points with her career best average finish of 22nd.
Danica Patrick would go through another change as former primary sponsor Nature's Bakery decided to not sponsor Danica Patrick after she was promoting rivaled products which forced Aspen Dental to become primary sponsor but things were horrible for Danica as inconsistency was fully taking over with 11 DNFS which 10 of them were due to crashes but Tony Stewart decided it was time to pull the plug as Danica Patrick was going to be released from SHR at seasons end and replaced by Aric Almirola heading into 2018 season as Danica Patrick's final full-time season ended 28th in points with 1 final career top 10 finish. Danica Patrick was unable to find full-time ride during offseason which forced her to make Danica Patrick farewell tour starting with Daytona 500 were she would drive the 7 Go Daddy Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing but her final race ended like many other races in her career behind the wall after crashing out and retired from Motorsports all together following 2018 Indianapolis 500 which ends the Danica Patrick story.
Danica Patrick's nascar career was up and down journey from start to finish but her polarizing name got her rides which didn't help her develop her skills after 1 full-time Xfinity Series season and exposed herself in front of nascar world it's real shame that here legacy in nascar will forever define her in the eyes of everyone after going to Series that didn't fit her driving style.
Comments (3)
She should have stayed at indycar because she was kinda good during her time at indycar but she was wasn't made to drive a stock car
Agreed she could've had respectable career in IndyCar but sponsorship money and name recognition was the biggest issue for her which forced many teams to rush her to cup while not giving her enough time to develop the necessary skills to drive in nascar but it's shame that her career will forever be known as bad driver because her tenured in Nascar
Reply to: TanorCampos24
Yeah because if she would have stayed in Indycar she would have won a couple more races in my opinion