Danica Patrick is unique among the four-driver Stewart-Haas race team as the only one to ever appear in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
Somehow the concept of Tony Stewart in a Speedo just never gained altitude.
At the same time, Patrick also stands alone as the only driver in this powerful, Sprint Cup Series championship stable without a race victory. Yes, even Regan Smith, a temp worker replacing the suspended Kurt Busch, has one.
That distinction has become the far more inconvenient of the two for Patrick as she begins her third season in stock cars. It would be so much simpler to sort out her rightful place on Madison Avenue as well as Martinsville if she would find her way to victory lane.
Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quick Trip 500 returns Patrick to the site of her best-ever Sprint Cup finish, a sixth last year. That was no small accomplishment, matching Janet Gutherie (1977, Bristol) for the best finish by a woman at NASCAR’s highest level.
But the amount of hype and hope heaped upon Patrick — even before she won the Daytona 500 pole her rookie year of 2013 — would have you believe she should be doing more than putting up historical footnotes. Hers has been the kind of noisy exposure that ultimately only victory can justify.
Is this the year she tears through the checkered ceiling? “I can’t guarantee anything, that’s why we run the race,” Patrick says, careful with her promises. “I have all the confidence that I can do it (win).”
No time like the present, with her contract with Stewart-Haas and sponsor GoDaddy expiring. Already, even before the first race of 2015 was run, she was fielding questions — none to happily — about her future.
For the record, team co-owner Gene Haas has offered nothing but encouragement. “We want to see Danica succeed as much as anybody does,” he said in USA Today. “I think NASCAR wants to see her succeed. So there’s an awful lot of vested interest to have Danica succeed in this man’s sport.”
At 32, there seems no question that she is fully committed to making her mark in the Sprint Cup world. She may have made greatest impact in IndyCar, winning the Indy Japan 300 in 2008 and finishing third in the Indianapolis 500 a year later. But those are quickly receding memories, she said.
“I think less and less about doing Indy every year,” Patrick said. “The farther I have gotten away from it, the less I want to do it.”
Managing a bit of humor, she added, “I am not getting any younger — I don’t know how often I can change my career. As long as they want me around the program I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to Formula 1 anytime soon, that’s for sure.”
The only real news she has made this year was during the run-up to the season-opening Daytona 500, when she grabbed Denny Hamlin by the lapels and shook him angrily after the second of two wrecks involving both of them.
She already had enough complications to sort through without all the crumpled sheet metal. She had lost the only crew chief she had known at this level when Tony Gibson shifted over to Busch’s car. Some acclimation with new guy Daniel Knost would be only natural. Starting 20th at Daytona, she finished the day 21st.
Measuring Patrick’s progress, or lack of it, is an inexact science. One major indicator — Sprint Cup points standings — would tell you she is spinning her tires. She finished 27th in 2013, 28th last year.
About the critics who are bottom-lining her in such a strict way, Stewart, her teammate and car owner, offers this: “They don’t have the ability like we do to physically watch her car the entire race and see the flow of the race and see how she’s making improvements.”
Incremental gains are not very sexy, but that is what Patrick is trading in these days. The progress is there, she says, pointing to such nuances as better speed in practice and more times qualifying in the top 15.
Three of Patrick’s career top 10 finishes came last year. Her average starting position increased from 30th in 2013 to 22nd last year; average finish was two spots better, from 26th to 24th. Not exactly the kind of numbers of which large headlines are made.
“I was very happy with last year overall. I felt I learned a lot as a driver, and got more comfortable with the car and the team itself,” she said.
“As long as we keep progressing, we can get to the top.”
Added Stewart, “There was definite improvement throughout the season as far as speed and consistency.”
Now, if only they can translate that into something the rest of us can understand: Results.
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