IRL/NASCAR: Caution, Potential Exploding Heads Ahead
Question, what is the most likely scenario to take place to bump the Mayfield and Johnson/K. Busch/Hamlin spat - Not mention all the driver drama in Toronto - off the sports news front pages?
Obvious isn’t it, any kind of association between NASCAR and Danica Patrick.
Rumor-mongers rejoice, it’s happened.
Be honest, what would a post about Danica be without a gratuitious cheesecake shot?
Smoke was off testing some new Goodyear donuts at Atlanta Motor Speedway but she did get the opportunity to meet Ryan Newman, crew chief Tony Gibson, GM Bobby Hutchens and engineer Matt Borland. The tour also included stops at the fab shop and a look at the seven-post shaker rig.
If all that doesn’t send a tingle up the legs of the Rumor-mongers and cause their collect heads to explode I fail to see what will.
NOTE: If you hadn’t noticed Patrick started 16th and finished 6th on the road course in Toronto this past weekend. She seems to have improved her road course performance over the last year that she has admitted to be one of her week points.
“You definitely have to be aggressive on street courses and today [Sunday] we were. We started in the back of the field and fought our way up to the front. The Boost Mobile/Motorola guys did a great job in the pits and they made the right calls the strategy.
I lost a few positions on the second to last restart but I was trying to save fuel. But it’s a great result considering the weekend we had. I have to thank all the fans for coming out today and I can’t wait to come back next year.”
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Well notwithstanding that the level of talent in NASCAR will see her finishing way down the field ( regardless of whoe she is driving for) the move from the IRL may come off for one very good reason.
Even in these tough times she will not have trouble finding sponsors……… simple really.
While I think it would be better to be a medium sized fish in a small pond, the lure of the big bucks may see her take the small fish in the shark pool option.
What a load of crap! Not you Marc, her statement about gaining spots. Her improvement in finishing was due to two simple reasons: Attrition and pit stop passing.
If she can’t pass on ovals in an IRL car who in their right minds thinks she’ll do better in NASCAR????
Granted, maybe Smoke is chasing the sponsor dollars, or the possibilities that alluring photo of her may present, but it sure as hell isn’t what she can do on track. And I’m sure Tony the Tiger could do a lot better in the female companionship department than Princess Danica.
First serious contact with the wall and she’ll go packing or ride out the races at the back of the pack.
Not sure I totally agree with your assessment of her road course prowess.
She may not be Ayrton Senna, who is, but she a damn sight better on the twisty bits than a couple years ago.
Oh, and flirtation aside, still say she ain’t goin’ no where except possibly Ganassi’s IRL team which put her in a better IRL ride and a chance to dabble in his NASCAR team at some level.
Regardless of our differing opinions I’d rather see her in F1 than NASCAR. She at least would have a chance with her prior open wheel experience. And the plus of watching her perform/fail on a world stage would be……interesting? She will at the least have a poorly performing car to blame for a lack of results.
It seems inevitable she’ll wind up as a driver on the new USGPE team. Or whatever they are calling themselves these days.
Inevitable she ends up at USGPE? I just don’t see it for a couple reasons.
One she seems to be more than a little reluctant to move away from the states and two, why in the hell would USGPE hire someone with zero experience at that level. It would bring a lot of press to the team but little else.
I’m thinking she would bring the same sponsorship she does to the IRL. USGPE needs sponsorship, if she can bring it, done deal. Of course if an American driver with F1 experience who can also bring money can be found, they might have an edge. Scott Speed comes to mined but he’s a Red Bull committed driver, whether in NASCAR or not.
So the choices are American drivers with O.W. experience, who also might bring cash.
As for living away from the USA, didn’t she race in England in junior O.W. series?