Danica and NASCAR

Danica Patrick came to NASCAR. How do you think she will do? I was leary when I first heard. I thought that she might be getting this opportunity because she is famous and pretty, if not down right beautiful. I knew she could drive a race car, but could she drive a stock car and how would the regular drivers treat her. Lets be honest. She is a big draw, but I wasn't sure she was smart enough to make it in NASCAR. I never worried about how the other drivers would treat her. I knew that they would treat her the same way they treat every one else. They are used to big stars. They have their own. They are experienced with women drivers. Erin Crocker was racing with them just a couple years ago. They treated her just like they treat each other.

When Junior gave her a ride, she was driving for the one driver that fires people up if he is in a wreck. His fans are very vocal and I am sure many have not forgiven Kyle Busch because he wrecked Junior a few years ago. She is joining a team that has popularity built in because Junior is the owner. I remember hearing a friend say that she liked Brad Keselowski, because he raced for "our team." She really hates Kyle. I wonder how she feels about Danica. Junior fans are very, very loyal. Not necessarily smart, but they are loyal. Smart might be over rated.

Is Danica ready? Is anyone really ready? For any rookie there is always a learning curve and a lot of wrecks. Of course for some that curve takes longer than it does for others. Most drivers start in ARCA, graduate to the Trucks, then to the Nationwide and eventually to Cup. As they go up that ladder, they encounter better and better drivers and it becomes harder and harder to win. Often there are one or two Cup drivers racing in the Nationwide race. They improve the quality of the racing there. One way that you can see the improvement of the quality is in the number of wrecks. After yesterday's wreck-fests, people may be expecting a lot of wrecks in today's Daytona 500. As I have been watching NASCAR, I have noticed that there are fewer wrecks on the same track during the Cup Race than there were in the Nationwide Race.

So Danica went to the ARCA level and she did a really good job. I was pleasantly surprised. She is a smart racer. She did exactly what she was told to do. She had good equipment and she had good people in her ear. That would be her spotter and her crew chief. I think that the reason that some drivers don't do as well is because they are not smart enough to listen to the voices in their ear. She is smart enough to listen. Every time that the tv played what was going on with her, you could hear those voices telling her exactly where she should be and she was smart enough to respond correctly.

Since she was smart enough to do that, they let her try the Nationwide Race. She did good in the Nationwide yesterday. She got lots of experience. She got to be down a lap; She got to get the "lucky dog" - where the first driver a lap down at a caution gets their lap back; She got to experience bump drafting; She got to be in a wreck; She got to drive that wrecked race car back; and she got to give the interview after a wreck. She was treated like any other race car driver during the race. She listened well to the voices in her ear and provided feed back. Eventually her feedback will get better and better.

I think if Danica wants to be there, she can. I think that she is good for the sport. She brings in bigger crowds. As people come to watch her race, they might find that they like NASCAR and that can only be good. She won't become my favorite racer, but she will be good for the sport. My favorite racers generally don't win races and I think she eventually will if she wants to be. Danica is a good thing for NASCAR and it sure looked like she was having fun. If she stays and she keeps on listening, she should be fun to watch. I can't wait for her to butt heads with the people in the NASCAR Hauler . (kind of like when you had to go to the principal's office.

Good Luck Danica.