Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, NASCAR

Consider this an interruption to the quick judgments, harsh opinions and commentary overload about Danica Patrick’s NASCAR debut.

As IndyCar’s most famous face prepares to make her fifth NASCAR start this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway — near her hometown of Roscoe, Ill. — it’s time to step back from all the emotion and hype.

Forget her $1,000 gold-stilettos, police escorts and the unapologetic adulation of NASCAR executives and track promoters. Let’s look at her statistics driving a NASCAR race car.

Patrick’s four-race average of a 33rd place finish in the Nationwide Series may be an easy target for those told-you-so doubters, but it’s absolutely respectable compared to other recent open-wheel NASCAR converts. And even some NASCAR champions.

Her NASCAR Nationwide Series team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., for example, either crashed or had mechanical problems in three of his first four Nationwide races during the 1996-97 seasons, including a string of 39th, 39th and 38th place showings after his 14th place debut. That’s an average finish of 32.5, or less than one position better than Patrick.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Joey Logano, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

LOUDON, N.H. — The NASCAR education of Danica Patrick continued Saturday with a hard-knocks 30th place finish — five laps down to winner Kyle Busch — in the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

It was a day of frustration, tough lessons and small accomplishments for the IZOD IndyCar Series starlet, whose effort Saturday is actually her best showing in four Nationwide Series starts.

It didn’t feel like that for Patrick, however. She spent most of the day mired in the back of the pack carefully avoiding the race leaders as a dominant Kyle Busch led 126 laps to become the all-time laps leader in Nationwide Series history.

Patrick brought out the first caution of the day only eight laps into the race — spinning out after a collision with veteran Morgan Shepherd. Frustrated, she radioed to her crew, “He totally took me out.” And then later asked, “Doesn’t he get some sort of penalty for that?”

On the ensuing restart and again as cars parked on pit road after the race, Patrick handed out her own justice — driving her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet into Shepherd’s rear bumper to let him know she didn’t appreciate the run-in.

“I obviously got dumped in the first corner,” Patrick said. “It’s hard to recover from that. … but I guess that’s racing.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Nationwide Series, IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

LOUDON, N.H. — Danica Patrick left the mandatory rookie driver meeting and happily strolled to her race car in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway garage Friday morning, where about 15 photographers, three television camera crews and a crowd of star-struck NASCAR fans greeted her smiling face.

Two of her competitors this weekend, racing brothers Mike and Kenny Wallace were waiting to ask her to pose with them for a photograph by her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

After the hour-long Nationwide Series opening practice — in which Patrick was 43rd slowest of 44 cars — she dutifully answered reporters questions in a standing room only news conference — the only one of the day attended by track owner Bruton Smith.

After the formal question-and-answer period, track General Manager Jerry Gappens presented Patrick with a pair of $1,000 designer Yves Saint Laurent high heels — 4-inch gold stilettos — as a “thank you” gesture for picking the New Hampshire oval as one of the 13 Nationwide Series venues she’ll compete at this year.

Welcome back, Danica. NASCAR really, really, really missed you.

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by Holly CainI hope you’ll join me for a live chat at noon Sunday, an hour before the scheduled start time of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup series NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

I’ll be discussing all of the latest news and events, including Danica Patrick’s return to the NASCAR Nationwide series, the ongoing issue of rough driving, Denny Hamlin’s breakout season, and any racing topic you’d like to discuss.

The season is in full swing, and next week marks the 52nd running of the Independence Day Classic at Daytona International Speedway, the Coke Zero 400 on July 3.

Join me to chat about anything and everything racing, right here at noon Sunday.

Holly Cain Live Chat

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., IRL, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

While NASCAR has great hopes of improved television ratings and larger crowds for Danica Patrick’s return to the circuit this summer, she insists she’s just another race car driver seizing an opportunity. Propping up an entire race series isn’t her intention.

“I don’t feel responsibility (to draw crowds), I’m just going out there and getting experience and trying to do well at the end of the day,” said Patrick, who returns to NASCAR Nationwide Series competition this Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after spending the last three months focusing on her full time job in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

“I am just really lucky as an athlete that people are curious how I’m doing and want to see. So I just do my best to put on a show and hopefully it’s something that gives people a reason to smile and cheer. And if I do that, then I’m doing my job.”

Patrick also quickly deferred to realistic expectations on the track.

“I hope this weekend I finish in the top twenty or the top fifteen and kind of build myself up,” Patrick said Tuesday.

“I think the best thing I can do for myself on the NASCAR weekends is really come up with some realistic expectation levels instead of having them be like IndyCar expectations levels where I’m hoping to win and I’m hoping to finish on the podium.”

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