Just when I thought things had calmed down on the NASCAR front, I was made to eat my words. Danica Patrick announced today that she is going NASCAR while still focusing on IndyCar.
The news should be no surprise considering ESPN has reported the living crap out of this story. In fact, ESPN rumored this so much that it actually became ridiculous and annoying. Yet here we sit weeks later and the news has finally been released.
If all goes according to plan, Patrick will debut for the ARCA series at Daytona for the season opener. She will be in the No. 7 Godaddy.com car ran by JR Motorsports and will compete in a number of races before and after the IZOD IndyCar series calendar. She will be on track for the first time during a 18-20 Dec. test at Daytona. In order to run in the mid tier Nationwide series, DP must compete in the ARCA event at Daytona.
It will be interesting to see how this double duty impacts Danica for the IndyCar series. Even with all of the hype she receives from the media, she still has a lot to prove on and off the track. I do applaud her maturity during the 2009 season, but we could still see there are areas that need ironed out. She is also still committed to Andretti Autosport for at least two years. With that being said, she needs to up her game if she wants to hit it big and silence her many critics.
As if being a driver at the top tier of AOWR wasn’t difficult enough, she takes on this. I think she’ll not be found wanting, however. Its doubtful that she’ll score any wins, but I really do expect her to run reasonably well. She’s with a good team with good equipment and crew, she’ll be well funded, and her IndyCar and NASCAR duties won’t overlap. Personally, I’d love to see her do well this year and then win the Daytona 500 next year, only to say immediately after the race, “Been here, done this, now I’m off to my REAL race car waiting for me at Indianapolis!” …not gonna happen, but it would be fantastic to see.