[dunnere]

Danica Patrick: Finding rides for Daytona, Indy 500 'taking longer than I'd like'
Daniel McFadin
NBC Sports - Jan 4, 2018, 11:19 AM

Danica Patrick says the search for rides in the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 and May 28 Indianapolis 500 is "taking longer than I'd like it to take."

Patrick, the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver, announced in November prior to the Cup Series finale in Miami that she would retire from auto racing after competing in the two races. Patrick spent the last five years driving for SHR in NASCAR.

In an interview Thursday with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's "The Morning Drive" promoting her new book, "Pretty Intense," Patrick discussed the struggle to find teams to partner with for the two races this year.

"It's taking longer than I'd like it to take, I'll be really honest with you," Patrick said. "I thought it was going to be a quicker process. You can't rush things. I'm a big believer, more and more all the time of letting things flow and letting things take shape in the way that they would. That's kind of why I ended where I ended with finishing up (my) full-time career last year and doing the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 for this year.

"I didn't push anything and I let things flow and it turned out to be just perfect. Honestly, I'm excited and just so grateful."

Patrick, 35, has made six starts in the Daytona 500 and won the pole for the 2013 race, the first woman to do so. She competed in IndyCar from 2005-2011. In seven starts in the Indianapolis 500, her best result was third in 2009.

"Everything I do outside of racing is because of racing," Patrick said. "I'm well aware of that and I'm so fortunate that I get to go into these other ventures and have a platform to do it. But I am excited about them. I'm so glad with the way it all ended up working out.

"Similarly with the teams I'm going to race for, or the team, in NASCAR and in IndyCar. I'm pushing politely but you can't make things happen before they're ready to happen. I kind of thought it would get more simple. There's less people involved, less sponsors, less things. Well, it's still complicated. It's just taking a little bit of time. Hopefully we'll have something to announce soon enough."

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If I might - if anybody is shocked by this, then you just do not ant to admit the truth. The luster is off of the diamond, so to speak. That is, results are what counts, and at the end of the day, she has:
1 Win and 3 poles in 115 IndyCar races.
0 Wins and 1 pole in 190 NASCAR Cup Races, 7 Top Tens
2013 Daytona 500 Pole Sitter

Where does that put her? In the list of "who cares?" drivers, my friends. She can't get a sponsor for the Cup series, and why would anyone let her take a ride out to finish, at best, middle of the pack? For what? Hype? What hype?

I hope I can sell all of my Danica cards before anybody else realizes that the experiment is more than over...

[spazmatastic]

If she doesn't have a ride for the D500 yet, it's probably not going to happen. IF it does, it'll be a rushed thing and she'll end up middle of the pack anyway. There is still time for a ride at Indy and I do think she'll get one. It'll take time though. Her best bet is probably to take the seat of a RC who isn't performing well enough. I'm guessing we'll hear something in April.

[dunnere]

It appears that she found a ride in Aaron Rodgers...

[dunnere]

Go Daddy to the rescue. Danica snags a ride in the #7 Go Daddy Chevrolet being run by Premium Motorsports in the Daytona 500. Tony Eury Jr. will be crew chief.

How about that?

Go Daddy is going to sponsor her in the Indy race, too...

[spazmatastic]

I was just reading the same thing before I came on here. Good for her. She could be competitive in the 500. Waltrip finished 8th in their car last year. I still figure that the best she'll do is just outside the Top-10. There are very few drivers that would work with her late in the race if they have a choice.

[dunnere]

I was just reading the same thing before I came on here. Good for her. She could be competitive in the 500. Waltrip finished 8th in their car last year. I still figure that the best she'll do is just outside the Top-10. There are very few drivers that would work with her late in the race if they have a choice.

We know she can be competitive in Daytona...she did win a Pole there. And certainly a 53 year old Michael Waltrip placing 8th proves that the car will be good. But I agree, she might find it difficult to get a working partner at the end because let's face it, she might not look for trouble, but trouble seems to find her...

I am not as optimistic on her finish as you, but only because it is so competitive, and if she was that good, she'd have a full time ride still. I figure maybe a top 15 starting spot, finishing around 25.

[spazmatastic]

Honestly, I don't think her skill is the reason she doesn't have a full-time ride this year. It was purely sponsorship. I don't think she wanted to stay with SHR in a Ford. I think she wanted to be back in a Chevy but there wasn't one available. She actually performed slightly better in 2017 than the guy replacing her in the #10 car. GoDaddy dropping sponsorship started her problems and then Nature's Bakery totally screwed her and the SHR company. We still don't really know what happened with Nature's Bakery that made them try to back out of the contract.
She still gets plenty of publicity and she always got attention from FOX during the races, no matter where she was running at the time. NBC barely ever showed her unless she was getting lapped or caught up in someone's wreck.
I would never say she was a superstar or a fantastic driver, but she's still better than half of the drivers that started a race in 2017 and better than at least that many who will start a race in 2018.