Archives for February 2010

Those hoping to see Danica Patrick driving a stock car better do it this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway or wait until late June. Saturday's Sam's Town 300 Nationwide Series race will end.

The first phase of Patrick's NASCAR tutorial before she focuses on her day job as an Izod IndyCar Series driver with Andretti Autosport, with whom she spent testing Wednesday and Thursday at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

Her next scheduled Nationwide start for JR Motorsports is June 26 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "We've put a lot of effort into these first three stock-car races, but my ultimate goal is still to win the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar championship; that's the primary focus," Patrick said in a prerace release.

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In a word? Yes! Danica Patrick started 36th at the Stater Bros. 300 in Fontana CA last Saturday and ran a clean race finishing 31st. 

That doesn't sound like a great race, but it is a lot better than some so called "fans" have been giving her credit for.

She hung back, stayed out of trouble and tried to get used to the car.  Some of the GoDaddy team's radio traffic was broadcast and I thought the questions.

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It's the day every girl dreams of: Her 16th birthday, when she can finally get her driver's license, and parading around in ripped-up stockings becomes only mildly disturbing.

Dakota Fanning, who turned the big 1-6 on Tuesday, celebrated the milestone by sashaying through the streets of Los Angeles in a furry tiara and, perhaps more intriguingly, a super-torn pair of stockings. Leftover wardrobe from her recent movie The Runaways, or a birthday gift from Miley Cyrus?

Before Danica Patrick hit the track on  Feb. 20th for the Stater Bros. 300 in Fontana, CA driving the No. 7 GoDaddy car for JR Motorsports, she was making the rounds of Southern California media.

She appeared on "The Ellen Degeneres Show" on  Feb. 17 and made other stops at "Good Day LA" on KTTV FOX 11, "The Bonnie Hunt Show" , the "CBS Evening News" and CNN for future air dates.

She was a guest on the syndicated "On- Air with Ryan Seacrest" radio show on  Feb. 18 and  "Chelsea Lately" set to air Feb. 23 on E! She was also a guest on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on ABC.

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Twenty years ago, the thought of a woman NASCAR driver was absolutely absurd. Even 10 years ago, the thought may not have been welcome in the male-dominated sport.

Well, the times have changed and now GoDaddy girl Danica Patrick has taken the NASCAR nation by storm. And she doesn’t even race in the premier stock cup series. In the racing offseason, Patrick signed with JR Motorsports to drive a select number of races in the Nationwide Series. She will also still race in the Indy Cup Series for Andretti Green Racing.

She raced in her first stock car race two weeks ago at Daytona, and last weekend she raced in California. Next weekend, she will race in her third race in Las Vegas before taking a few months break to concentrate on her open-wheel circuit.

In both races, she has shown signs of being a rookie, getting caught up in an accident in Daytona and having pit road issues in California. She finished 35th and 31st respectively, but still she received all the media attention. So, what about her attracts the media? It definitely isn’t the love she shows them.

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There is a strong part of me that wants to bash Danica Patrick right now. However, like the majority of human beings on this planet, I'm actually interested in what she does.

That realization has made me question my sanity lately. I actually watched part of the Nationwide race on Saturday.

There is less than zero chance I would have done that before. Her story is an intriguing one, even if it makes me cringe.

I just want to see if she can rise above and win. Right now, not so much. But that hardly matters. I'm rooting for her, whether I know it or not. -- Danny Klein

 The location may have changed - from Daytona to the eastern edge of Los Angeles - but one thing hasn't changed for Danica Patrick. How new this NASCAR thing still is to her. It hardly matters that Patrick has driven IndyCars around the two-mile Auto Club Speedway where she is scheduled to run in today's State Brothers 300 if rain doesn't get in the way. That was five years ago, and she can't drive the same line in her Nationwide car as she drove in her open-wheel car.

With only a crash-shortened run in the Nationwide race at Daytona last weekend on her resume, Patrick isn't even sure she would know what's right if she finds it. Asked Friday afternoon if she feels she's gained a measure of respect from her peers in her short NASCAR career, Patrick left that determination to others.

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The Danica Patrick effect is taking hold of NASCAR. The Feb. 13 Nationwide Series race in Daytona Patrick’s first saw a 33 percent ratings increase from last year.

The race, which started at 1 p.m. Saturday, earned a 2.8 national rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That means 3.1 million U.S. households tuned in.

That makes it the most viewed Nationwide race ever to air on the ESPN network. Locally, the race scored much higher. In the Indianapolis market, the race earned a 6.9 rating (74,000 TV households).

That’s more than double the local rating of the same race a year ago. Apparently, more than a few IndyCar fans are tuning in. It also shows how strong a NASCAR market Indianapolis is.

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Danica Patrick is as curious as everyone else to see how well she performs in her second NASCAR stock car race Saturday. Patrick made her debut last weekend in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series, but her race ended after a car wreck just past the halfway point on the high-banked Daytona International Speedway.

Her next race is the Stater Bros. 300 at the much flatter, two-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. "I don't know what to expect [at Fontana]," Patrick said in an interview, adding that she and her crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., "haven't really talked about it too much" ahead of her first practice here on Friday.

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Patrick unveiled her new "Danicar" this weekend at the Daytona International Speedway. The custom die-cast vehicle was co-designed with the Hot Wheels team at the Mattel Design Center in El Segundo, California. Patrick's "Danicar" is the first celebrity-designed Hot Wheels vehicle and will be made in the traditional 1:64 scale. "My life is all about high velocity cars, and the only car company I could imagine being able to create my vision of the ultimate fantasy car is Hot Wheels," Patrick said.

Mattel calls the "Danicar" an "awesome machine." It features an open cockpit, chartreuse "Spectraflame" paint, three sets of different-sized wheels and adjustable wings on the front and back. The car will be available in stores this fall.