For Danica Patrick, NASCAR becomes a full-time gig where she intends to step up her game, contend for wins and silence naysayers. Odds are she will do just that. Patrick has a strong fanbase and also has the ability to dismiss the negativity critics tend to expound upon.
One thing the diminutive driver of the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet has is confidence, and she backs that up with the ability to drive a race car. Patrick has been a quick study, given she has only run part-time schedules in 2010 and 2011 for JR Motorsports. Her two seasons together equate to about two thirds of a full-time season.
Despite her minimal seat time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, she wrangled a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas in 2011, making her the highest finishing female in a NASCAR national series, ever. Now it is time for Patrick to prove herself not only against the top Nationwide drivers, but against Cup drivers who infiltrate the series.
In addition to running a full schedule in the second tier of NASCAR, she will tackle 10 Cup races behind the wheel of the No. 10 for Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick's goals have been modest with hopes of finishing in the top 20 during 2010 and in the top 15 during the 2011 season.
Now her goals will change as she goes for wins and top-10 finishes. To reach that goal, she will have a field of talented drivers who will be racing really hard against her. Certainly, the ultimate goal of every driver is to win races, but the reality is only a select group usually are true contenders for wins.
Often Cup drivers dominate the Nationwide races though they don't run for points. The young guns of the NASCAR Nationwide Series are quickly marking their turf. In this slideshow we will focus on the toughest rivalries Patrick will face in that series.