Danica Patrick is currently knee-deep in a (so far, unsuccessful) season with the Indy Racing League, but after the smoke of the Indianapolis 500 clears she will slowly shift back into the tail end of NASCAR season with JR Motorsports. Patrick’s fledgling attempts at racing the NASCAR Nationwide Series this year have been iffy at best so far, but the stock car racing realm is still anxiously awaiting her return to the oval tracks next month.
Patrick ran in three NASCAR races (Feb. 13 at Daytona, Feb. 20 at Fontana and Feb. 27 at Las Vegas) with the Nationwide Series earlier this spring before jumping into a full series with the IRL, and even if her crossover attempts have been somewhat of a flop so far, the media darling is still a prized possession on both circuits. Patrick, currently in 16th place in driver standings with the IRL, has been taking criticism lately that her lukewarm IndyCar finishes have been affected by her stint with NASCAR, but the GoDaddy spokeswoman quickly turned down that notion.
Speaking with Racer.com and defending her decision to run both NASCAR and IndyCar schedules this year, Patrick responded to a question about the negative impact NASCAR has had on her IRL season by saying, “I think that’s just a really easy thing to look at, an easy thing to point to and an easy excuse. I don’t think there’s anything to it. I keep going back to the old days – race drivers drove all kinds of racecars and nobody thought it took anything away. In fact, it should be adding. It’s just an unfortunate situation and there’s no other answer.”
Patrick chalked up her average racing season so far to simply just missing the mark, and she’s still searching for a way to get back into the comfort of Victory Lane. Speaking to Racer.com, Patrick said, “If the answer was as simple as going, ‘This is what I’m going to do to fix it,’ I would know that and it would have been done already. I have some ideas to take it in a better direction. At the moment, we’re all working hard. It’s not from a lack of trying.”
No matter where she stands in the pack on the racetrack, Danica Patrick is still a leading figure for the sales of <a href=”http://www.stubhub.com/nascar-tickets/”>NASCAR tickets</a> this year. Her Nationwide finishes so far this year – 35th at Daytona, 31st at Fontana and 36th at Las Vegas – are nothing to get overly excited about, but perhaps NASCAR’s golden girl will return with a vengeance next month when she steps back into her No. 7 stock car.
After rounding out this current stretch of oval courses with the IRL, Danica Patrick will be back in action in the Nationwide Series on June 26, when she next races at Loudon. Alternating with IndyCar races, Patrick will also race NASCAR events on July 9 at Chicago, Aug. 14 at Michigan, Sept. 25 at Dover, Oct. 9 at Fontana, Oct. 15 at Charlotte, Oct. 23 at Gateway, Nov. 6 at Texas and Nov. 20 at Homestead.
Patrick is also going after a series win in oval courses (brand new to the IRL this year) and is seeking her first career Indianapolis 500 win during the last weekend in May, giving her plenty of motivation and focus to get through this middle stretch of racing season.
Jenna Jay wrote this article, which is sponsored by StubHub.com. <a href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub</a> is a leader in the business of selling <a href=”http://www.stubhub.com/nascar-tickets/”>NASCAR tickets</a>, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.
