She dropped on more place in the standings ...

29 Danica Patrick -1 Position Down

Car Points Behind Wins Starts Top 5 Top 10 DNF
10 87 112 0 5 0 1 1


What happened to all the enthusiasm after the Daytona pole? An amazing display of driver talent....

What happened to all the publicity, news reports and priapism within this forum amongst the professional drovers?

Yup, thought so.

 

Dude, honestly, let it go. We're all sorry for your...um..."shortcomings", but no need to keep displaying them.

 

Just trying to understand the whole Danica effect.

She grabs pole at Daytona and everyone attributes it to her skill, experience, car control, etc ... all the things that mere mortals could only dream of doing.
Anyone who questions the accomplishment (re: car setup or "the plate") is automatically ridiculed and marginalized.

She is a success, compared to the other NASCAR failures like JPM, Scott Speed, etc... yet her current standings would contradict the crowning of being a "success"

Yet, since Daytona, what has she accomplished? How does someone go from the pole at Daytona to complete (competitive) insignificance?

Surely some of the racers in this forum must have some insight or wisdom they could share.

 

no fighting .

 

her Teammates, Ryan Newman and 3 time champ and professional loudmouth Stewart, are 20th and 22nd.

so maybe you can rightfully blame equipment

SHR is definitely having problems getting a handle on the Gen6 car on the shorter/downforce tracks.

 

/thread

 

I don't know what is so odd. Their are lots of NASCAR drivers with their only career win or good finish is at Daytona or Talladega. Those two tracks are just very different from anything else NASCAR runs. Like it or not, the pole at Daytona is an accomplishment and her finish was good for a rookie.

The media coverage has been fair and frankly better than I expected. They have not hyped her when running near the back and she has become just another driver.

With any luck she will figure things out and do well or maybe not. We'll see. It's up to her.

(It's not like she's acting like Tony Stewart at Fontana acting like Lagano's late restart block cost him the race while finishing 20something.)

-Mike

 

YEAR RANK STARTS WINS POLES TOP 5 TOP 10 LAPS LED MONEY PTS AVG START AVG LAPS AVG FINISH
2006 70 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 $61,425 61 29 94 34
2007 20 36 1 0 0 3 6 0 $4,715,288 3487 21 95 23
2008 25 36 0 0 2 3 14 $4,405,288 3329 23 96 24
2009 8 36 0 2 7 18 388 $5,270,120 6252 13 99 14
2010 17 36 1 3 6 14 411 $5,088,406 4118 12 95 18
2011 21 36 0 2 2 8 125 $4,915,243 932 18 100 19
2012 22 36 0 2 0 2 22 $4,494,049 810 23 97 22
2013 30 5 0 0 0 0 12 $831,899 83 18 93 28

LOOK at the above stats for a Former F1 driver and his first year in Sprint Cup. I agree with VR on this one give it a break.

Allright the table will not format. Basically JPM had a good year, but no poles and his one win and good finishes were on road courses as you expect Danica to do well in.

 

A couple observations.

NASCAR is way more difficult to succeed in as a driver than most observers give credit.

The crew chief and team has as much success weighting as the driver. Huge factor.

 

She's a success because she's a marketers dream. She won't have to win a race ever and will always have good rides. Same with Michael Waltrip - sponsors loved him, marketers loved him. Until he got with DEI there was nothing in his performance to say he should even be in Cup.

It's about sponsor dollars, not on track performance for some people.

 

I am waiting to see results in the road race events that is really the only time I enjoy NASCAR fun to watch them throw those 3400 lb cars around.
Rich