Danica Patrick, auto racing's most famous celebrity-driver, has reached a crossroads in her storybook career.
Heading into Sunday's Indianapolis 500, Patrick's ability to succeed at her sport's highest level and continue as one of its most popular stars is being questioned for the first time. Whether it's IndyCar racing or in NASCAR, Patrick hasn't come close to winning this year. She has only one top-10 finish in eight combined starts.
Off the track, Patrick remains immensely popular but more polarizing by the day. Think Kobe Bryant in a helmet and fire-proof suit. In the Indy 500, Patrick will start from the middle of the eighth row. That's 23rd overall and third among the four women who qualified cars for the race. In a post-qualifying radio interview, Patrick blamed those who set up her car for a four-lap average speed of 224.217 mph, almost four miles-per-hour slower than pole-sitter Helio Castroneves. "The car is just totally skating across the track and there is no grip," Patrick said. "... The set-up is not there.
She added, "... [This] car deserves to be higher up than this. It's better than this. It's just not set up right."
Fans listening to the interview on the track's public address system were not impressed with Patrick willingness to blame a so-so performance on somebody else.
They booed.
After the dull qualifying effort, senior vice president of Andretti Autosports Tom Anderson agreed the car was not properly prepared.
"You take one on the chin, but maybe you had one coming this time," he told reporters in Indianapolis. "All you can do is turn the other cheek and get back to work."
Still, Patrick has been widely criticized for her willingness to toss teammates under the bus.
In a conference call this week, ABC/ESPN auto racing analyst Scott Goodyear said, "I think what we saw from her was just frustration -- the realization that this is [my] speed and I probably don't have a shot at being up in the front couple of rows."
Eddie Cheever, another analyst who will work the Indy 500, was more blunt.
He called Patrick's interview "a childish tantrum," but added, "The beautiful thing about racing is you can go from being the village idiot to the world champion in one afternoon. [If] she has a great race, it will all go behind her."
Andretti Autosports teammate Tony Kanaan talked to Patrick after the incident.
What did he say?
"My best advice to her is, 'You've got to learn from the tough times,'" Kanaan said. "... In racing, besides having a good setup and a good car, I believe your attitude counts a lot. And she definitely needs to change her attitude. She's not happy with herself right now.
Kanaan suggested Patrick "... just go have fun again. When you wake up in the morning and you can't wait to go to the race track and see your guys, it's the best feeling. But when you wake up and say, 'My God, I've got to drive a race car again,' that's not good."
During a gathering of drivers Tuesday in New York, Patrick said she won't be driving a "perfect car" in the Indy 500, "... but I think we can get close."
Asked about her infamous post-qualifying interview, Patrick said, "Could I have put it a little more PC? Probably. But that's never been me. I've been quite a bit better [at Indy] the last year or two and when you go from qualifying in the top 10 to 23rd, it's a pretty big shift."
Patrick expressed regret over the incident to members of her team.
"... It didn't sound right and I'm sorry," she said. "It's in no way coming down on them. It was really just me saying, 'Hey, these cars aren't right.' And they know they're not right ... That's why we're not able to run for the front row -- or the pole -- like we're used to."
Patrick has made five IndyCar starts this season. Her only top-10 finish came March 29 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where she placed seventh. She was 11th on May 1 in the Roadrunner Turbo 300 at Kansas City.
In addition to her open-wheel schedule, Patrick opened a new chapter in her career this year by committing to racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series events.
In her first three outings, she crashed at Daytona, finished 31st at Fontana (Calif.) and crashed again at Las Vegas.
Even before last week's qualifying controversy alienated some of fans, Patrick's venture into the world of NASCAR impacted her popularity among those in the IndyCar community.
ABC/ESPN lap-by-lap announcer Marty Reid has talked to some fans and found "a bit of resentment" over Patrick's decision to compete in NASCAR.
"I was really surprised," Reid said. "... They didn't like the fact she was dipping her toes in the waters of NASCAR. They're looking ahead and saying she's already gone. As far as they're concerned, she's made her jump to NASCAR."