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Filed under: NASCAR Crashes, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Reality bites.

Actually, it crashed on the home straightaway.

Then all the king's horses, swimsuit photographers and Go Daddy producers couldn't put Danica Patrick's car back together again.

"Tough day," she said.

Good day if you think Danica belongs on a massage table and not in a stock car. But Saturday's tough day was hardly a failure.

I mean, what did you expect?

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- All Danica Patrick wanted this blustery Saturday afternoon at NASCAR's most hallowed track was experience without expectation. So to that end, she may consider her NASCAR debut successful, even if her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevy finished the day a twisted wreck and her first NASCAR finish was officially 35th place.

After driving a careful and conservative early race, Patrick was collected in a 12-car accident that sent a fourth of the field to the garage on lap 68 of the 120-lap NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

The "story" of Speedweeks, Patrick chose to compete in the Nationwide Series race despite having only a few hours of practice in the car -- energized and encouraged instead by a sixth-place finish in a lower-level ARCA Series race last weekend.

She started 15th on Saturday, but opted for a more cautious strategy, falling back to the rear of the field to watch and learn. Unfortunately for her, the view was too good. Josh Wise and rookie Colin Braun collided several cars in front of Patrick and she was unable to dodge a track full of spinning cars.

 

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Filed under: Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Danica Patrick has been involved in a 12-car accident in the Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Patrick was running 21st when several cars wrecked in front of her. She tried to duck low to avoid the spinning cars but was unable to dodge everything, slamming into the outside wall.

Her car then spun through the grass, but Patrick regained control and drove to the pits. Her crew pushed the car back to the garage with heavy damage to the front.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Danica Patrick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick's sixth-place finish in her stock car debut Saturday night didn't earn her a trophy, but something much more useful: respect and credit.

She was running 24th with 19 laps to go and charged through the field like a veteran NASCAR racer, not an IndyCar driver turning her first competitive laps in a stock car.

By all accounts, her effort equaled the hype. And there has been plenty of hype.

"I think she showed us she's able to drive... I expected her to do well,'' said Kelley Earnhardt, co-owner of JR Motorsports, which fielded Patrick's car Saturday and will do so again in at least 12 NASCAR Nationwide races. "I am ecstatic. I couldn't be happier.''

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, Danica Patrick

IndyCar driver Danica Patrick will run a dozen stock car races in 2010 - beginning with the Feb. 6 ARCA season-opener at Daytona International Speedway - and may add a 13th event depending on how comfortable she feels in the car, her team, JR Motorsports, announced Thursday.

As expected Patrick's stock car calendar will primarily book-end her IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, which runs March through October. The only question that remains is whether she will compete in the Feb. 13 NASCAR Nationwide opener at Daytona or put off her NASCAR debut until the Feb. 20 Nationwide race at California's Auto Club Speedway, located just outside Los Angeles.

"We want to give Danica the best opportunity to compete at Daytona and that includes making sure she is 100 percent comfortable in that driver's seat,'' JR Motorsports co-owner Kelley Earnhardt said. "The Nationwide race there is perhaps the most competitive race of the year.

"Once the ARCA race is complete, we will get with Danica and make a decision based on the best interests of her, the team and our sponsor, Go Daddy.''

 

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Chase for the Sprint Cup, IRL, Danica Patrick

Unlike some so-so motorsports seasons earlier in the decade, 2009 was abundant with major story lines and compelling plots. Lackluster it was not.

For as much excellence behind the wheel -- Jimmie Johnson, Tony Schumacher, Mark Martin -- there was equally as much drama off the race track -- Kyle Busch smashing trophies, Danica Patrick's "would-she? wouldn't-she?" NASCAR foray, Tony George's Indianapolis ouster and then the great Michael Schumacher punctuating the year with his comeback announcement.

Here are FanHouse's selections for the top-10 motorsports stories of 2009:

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Plenty of cellphone cameras greeted Danica Patrick as she arrived for Friday's ARCA ReMax Series drivers meeting at Daytona International Speedway. And that was just her fellow racers.

Such is the life of IndyCar's most famous driver as she prepares to make her much-anticipated stock car debut next February in the ARCA ReMax Series race that traditionally opens Daytona Speedweeks.

With about 30 reporters, photographers and television cameras following her every step, Patrick drove her No. 88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet on track at 1:59 pm ET and got all of five laps in before lingering rain showers finally forced the cancellation of the first day of the three-day test.

Nonetheless, a smiling Patrick, who also participated in a brief double-secret test session at Walt Disney World Speedway earlier in the week, said she was quite pleased with her limited seat time.

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Sponsors, Nationwide Series, Other Racing Series, IRL, Danica Patrick

Why shouldn't she?

That's the conclusion I've come to after months of ad nauseam speculation and story-chasing over the racing future of Danica Patrick.

Why not give stock cars a try? She's got the financial backing of a high-profile sponsor in GoDaddy.com and the race support of one of the top teams, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports and its umbrella Hendrick Motorports operation.

 

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Nationwide Series

Conceding that it was the "worst kept secret" in racing, IndyCar star Danica Patrick formally announced plans Tuesday afternoon to run a limited stock car schedule in 2010 for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team beginning with the Feb. 6 ARCA Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Patrick will run a part-time Nationwide Series schedule in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, primarily focusing on events before and after her fulltime IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, which begins in March and ends in October.

Patrick made the announcement with GoDaddy.com Chairman Bob Parsons and JR Motorsports' new part-owner Kelley Earnhardt Elledge. Earnhardt Jr. said last week during NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series Champions Week that he had purposely stayed away from all negotiations and details of the Patrick deal, instead leaving that to his sister.

"As a female team owner, I know we're going to have a lot of fun and rock the world,'' Elledge said.

 

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: NASCAR Rumors, Danica Patrick

INDIANAPOLIS -- The timing of the latest round of Danica Patrick-to-NASCAR reports isn't lost on those in the IndyCar world, where Thursday's major announcement that IZOD will be the IndyCar Series' first title sponsor in a decade has been forced to share headlines with its most famous driver's likely part-time foray into stock cars.

Recently crowned 2009 IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti -- a former Andretti Green Racing teammate of Patrick's -- said Thursday he's still confident she's staying in IndyCar next season.

"I believe she'll be back in IndyCar next year and that will help her with her goal of winning the Indianapolis 500,'' Franchitti told FanHouse. "If she does drive in NASCAR, I think it will be difficult to do both.''

Timing Crucial in Danica Patrick Move originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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