While the silly season has been in full swing across all forms of major motorsport, no move has received as much attention as Danica Patrick and her future. The rumors have been in full affect all year as the female drivers contract comes to an end. Arguably one of the hottest commercial properties and a pretty good driver in her own right, Patrick has been rumored from USF1 to Stewart Haas Racing all the way to TCGR.
However, Autosport has just ran a story that indicates Danica will stay at AGR and that while there is no paper work, the deal is nearly complete on the front end. One of the big reasons she has decided to stay is the shift in management at AGR. This week the team announced that Andretti, Kim Green and Kevin Savoree would split up AGR and while Andretti would control the race team, Green and Savoree would take over Andretti Green Promotional Group that is in charge of the St. Petersburg race as well as other things. There are also other driver changes that may occur at AGR that will see Danica able to take more of a team leader role as she continues to mature as a race driver.
When asked about the Ganassi deal, she deflected the question and said that Penske was the only other option and they had a solid driver lineup already as well as an awesome part time driver.
I will say that I am surprised that Danica has chosen to stay in her current position. I would think that a ride with Ganassi would be too much to turn down given the dominance currently enjoyed by the team. AGR has been a nightmare for the last couple seasons and I don’t really see much changing due to the management switch. I think that the problem lies with the driver lineup as opposed to the management lineup. Good news for AGR on a sponsorship front as nearly any company would pay to have Patrick as an advertising platform.
I can’t say that this surprises me. TK had hinted very strongly on Trackside with Curt and Kevin that she would be staying. Although TCGR is a strong team, I do have to wonder about what the working environment would be like. Wheldon didn’t seem to care for it. She’s developed good relationships with the AGR team, and continuity from season to season is always helpful. With the change in management structure, and the potential slimming down of the AGR squad, I think she made the right decision.
It was a shock to me. I thought for sure she would be gone…the team is junk and she is doing I feel the best she can with the equipment and getting little result with it…that given with the constant fighting with Marco…I would think that the TCGR would be the best move. Regardless of the work enviornment…they win championships.
I totally agree with DP’s decision to stay
with IRL! After all – she’s CLASS!
NSCAR is like a “pole dancer” while
IRL is like a “high end” runway model.
Or, NASCAR is cheap beer and limp chips
while IRL is fine wine and rare tenderloin.
Or, NASCAR is like driving a Chevy Suburban
while IRL is like driving a Bughatti Veyron!
“Nuff Said!!”
I agree with you djb, to an extent. I am not a fan of nascar, but to each their own.
I would disagree that the IRL is like runway models, fine wine and bughatti’s. That tends to be how I think of F1. I think IndyCar is somewhere in the comfortable middle. IndyCar is like good import beer on tap, a gnarly deep dish pizza and Chevy Corvette’s. Not the most exclusive things in the world, but approachable by anybody of normal means.
Danica made the right decision to stay in the IndyCar series. It would have been good for her if she ended up at Ganassi because she would have had a chance to consistently fight for wins. She would have been a sideshow in nascar though, and a short lived one at that. She could probably make it in nascar after a few seasons of getting used to the car (like JPM) but she can always do that some other time.