[loco4pablo]

If you are a car owner.... Would you rather bring in say a Regan Smith who has tons of potential talent but can't bring in the $$$ in this tight economy.
OR would rather bring in a "no talent" driver such as Danica who can bring in Millions....I would choose the later.

[mike honcho]

I would bring in Danica then probably do what Evernham did.

[Curves24]

Ignore the hype: Danica Patrick isn't coming to NASCAR


Here we go again.

Every couple of years, when her contract comes up, the talk of Indycar sensation Danica Patrick ("that girl who drives Indycars" to the non-racing fan) looking to come over to NASCAR from Indycar racing is brought up. Her deal expires at the end of the 2009 season, so the talk has returned.

The major racing media eats it up and hypes it … It’s a match made in heaven to them – the most famous female driver in the world in the most popular racing series in America.

And Patrick stokes the fires, saying things like this:
"I'm very flattered everyone is curious," Patrick was quoted as saying in a New York Times story. "It's interesting to me as well. Do I stay where I am? Do I try to change? It's all about evaluating options, and I think that's something any good business person does. One of the things I think of is the exposure level that you get in NASCAR with the ratings and viewership. Their numbers are so much larger than ours and with that comes a bigger following, comes more popularity, comes more demand for you to endorse other products. So I think it would be an exponential sort of growth."

But there’s one big problem: It’s not going to happen.

While I’m sure NASCAR would welcome Patrick, and all the publicity she would bring, with open arms, it doesn’t really work out to her advantage.

For starters, where would she race? Someone of her status in racing wouldn’t come to NASCAR to drive for some small-time team.

But what’s available?
--The Hendrick cars are so overbooked they don’t even have a slot for Brad Keselowski.
--The Roush team will have to drop a team after this year to achieve the four-team limit.
--I suppose Joe Gibbs could add her as a fourth car, but he’d probably be smarter to sign a NASCAR free agent like Martin Truex or Jamie McMurray.
--Stewart-Haas is emerging as a strong team and has Hendrick support, but I don’t know if Stewart would want to take a chance hiring someone who has never driven stock cars.

And since she’s never driven stock cars, she would have to drive a year in the Nationwide series to hone her skills. Somehow, I don’t think she’d appreciate being sent back to the minor leagues.

But let’s say I’m wrong and she can squeeze in at one of the top teams. Still, it doesn’t work, because she has no reason to switch.

In Indycar, she is the top dog. With Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and others are taking all the victories and championships, Danica steals all the headlines, despite having won only one race in just over four seasons. She probably makes more money from sponsorships than all the other Indycar drivers combined, and that will continue even if she never wins another race in her entire Indycar career because is basically the only star in the entire series.

Let’s say she moved to NASCAR. She would no longer be the face of the sport. She would be one star among many, including the big dog himself Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But still, it has to be tempting. If you read her quote, any move to NASCAR would be made for one reason ... big piles of $$$$$$$$$. But she probably has some smart business advisers who will tell her that if she comes to NASCAR and finishes in the back of the pack every week, that money might not be there in the end.

That brings us to the biggest reason of all it won’t work: She doesn’t race stock cars and it would be a disaster if she tried to do it. For comparison, let’s look at Sam Hornish Jr. He won several Indycar championships before coming to NASCAR, showing much more talent than Danica in the process. Yet he is still struggling for the most part in Cup. He’s had some good runs recently, but his spin per race ratio is probably higher than 1.

If a three-time Indycar champ like Hornish has yet to achieve significant success in NASCAR, how well do you think someone like Patrick, with her one fuel mileage win, will do if she’s racing a car she’s completely foreign to against guys like Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. I’m pretty sure they’d leave her in their dust.

Until a contract is signed somewhere, the media will speak all year of “What’s Danica going to do?” … But it’s pretty clear to me that she’s going to stay in Indycar, doing what she does best, most likely at the same team.


posted by Matt Myftiu at 9:56 PM

The Oakland Press Blogs: Nascar: Beyond the Track: Ignore the hype: Danica Patrick isn't coming to NASCAR

[NascarPoolsOnline]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

I didn't say those guys weren't improving. But they're already Champions in their respective previous series. Champions are expected to show improvement in their first season, not take 2 or 3. Of the lot, only Montoya is now where he should have been last season at this time.

Contrast these Champions progress with Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.

Put one of those open wheelers in a Hendrick/Gibbs car and then we could make a little more realistic comparison.

Plus these guys didn't have near the seat time (in non-open wheel cars) that Logano and Keselowski did, so Joey and Brad are actually ahead of the curve on them.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by NascarPoolsOnline

Put one of those open wheelers in a Hendrick/Gibbs car and then we could make a little more realistic comparison.

Plus these guys didn't have near the seat time (in non-open wheel cars) that Logano and Keselowski did, so Joey and Brad are actually ahead of the curve on them.

I think you just made my original point .. there's a lot of "unlearning" to do for the "Champs"....

[bob101]

Originally Posted by mike honcho

I would bring in Danica then probably do what Evernham did.

Let it end your active car owner career because no one felt they could trust you to make sound judgements any longer?

[MikeRaceDayTek]

Originally Posted by NascarPoolsOnline

Put one of those open wheelers in a Hendrick/Gibbs car and then we could make a little more realistic comparison.

Plus these guys didn't have near the seat time (in non-open wheel cars) that Logano and Keselowski did, so Joey and Brad are actually ahead of the curve on them.

Wait, I gotta disagree here. Penske isn't awesome, but they have a half decent program. And where is Hornish? 31st in points. Meanwhile, Kurt (the most talented Penske driver) is 3rd. Almendinger is only 1 step higher than Sadler in 24th, while Kahne is in 16th. And Hornish's problem isn't a lack of equipment, it's a lack of talent. Has there been a race this year that he wasn't spinning across the track, yet?

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by loco4pablo

If you are a car owner.... Would you rather bring in say a Regan Smith who has tons of potential talent but can't bring in the $$$ in this tight economy.
OR would rather bring in a "no talent" driver such as Danica who can bring in Millions....I would choose the later.

I believe that a few short years ago that plan may have worked out just fine. Now with sponsorships so difficult to come by my bet is that even she wouldn't get any long term contract with a major sponsor. Look at some of the better drivers/teams out there now and you'll note that they don't have just one sponsor. I really think that some major sponsor would sign on short term but when their logo isn't seen on TV because she's running around the track in 37th place, they will not renew. Granted just because she is a centerfold for SI she will get more attention but not for long. Remember when Montoya came to NASCAR, he was gonna make his mark. I see him as an also ran driver. He is OK but no better than average.

[saltysenior]

probably discussed 100 times a day on madison ave,every day...''what if we put danica in a car for a while and then start a ''secret romance''rumor mill w/ a top driver ????........jr...tony...or better yet a husband stealing deal....jeff.....jimmy... harvick.???? crazy but look at vince mcman

[LSC9901]

Salty ... do you work for the National Enquirer ?????

That sounds like the stuff they print.

[thunderfoot]

I would have to say that is one place where BF would fit right in. Right beside vince mcman. What a moron he is.

Would someone show Danika the door and make sure it whacks her in the butt on the way out? Bikini and all. Did anyone notice how long Sarah Fisher lasted in the West Series? I think the only reason those two have rides is there are not many drivers out there. The teams that got them have scraped the bottom of the barrel and thats what come up.

[Roadmaster1]

Originally Posted by mike honcho

I would bring in Danica then probably do what Evernham did.

honesty ............ it is priceless honcho... good luck with that!

[saltysenior]

one must remember......they[who are in power,nascur,sponsors,owners] don't give a hoot about what me or you think as individuals ......they believe the way to go is with the flow of the majorities ....and the majorities would eat up the fore mentioned scenario..........

[loco4pablo]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

probably discussed 100 times a day on madison ave,every day...''what if we put danica in a car for a while and then start a ''secret romance''rumor mill w/ a top driver ????........jr...tony...or better yet a husband stealing deal....jeff.....jimmy... harvick.???? crazy but look at vince mcman

Salty, you are right on the money...NASCAR and madison Ave. would love to have Danica..... And everyone one of us would be sitting here typing about it!!... We already are and it's just a nonsense rumor!!

[NascarPoolsOnline]

Originally Posted by MikeRaceDayTek

Wait, I gotta disagree here. Penske isn't awesome, but they have a half decent program. And where is Hornish? 31st in points. Meanwhile, Kurt (the most talented Penske driver) is 3rd. Almendinger is only 1 step higher than Sadler in 24th, while Kahne is in 16th. And Hornish's problem isn't a lack of equipment, it's a lack of talent. Has there been a race this year that he wasn't spinning across the track, yet?

If we wanna pull out numbers, let's look at logano who is only 4 points better than Hornish on a perennial Chase team...also several spots behind Allmendinger...

There's no question Logano and Keselowski are very talented race car drivers, but I still stand by my assertion that they are in MUCH better equipment than any of the former open-wheelers mentioned.