This past week marked the resurgence of “Danicamania” with Danica Patrick’s return to NASCAR’s Nationwide Series after a four month hiatus. Patrick, an IndyCar driver and Indy Japan 300 winner, raced 3 of her expected 16 races in Nationwide before returning to the IndyCar series. She had a dismal showing in her first three races with Fontana being the best, finishing one lap down in 31st place. The New England 200 proved disastrous as she was swept up in an accident with veteran Morgan Shepard on the seventh lap of the race. Ending the race five laps down, her 30th place finish is her best yet.
“It’s disappointing to go down a lap so early, it’s disappointing to start the race with car damage, it’s disappointing to get lapped so many times,” said Patrick on her performance after the Louden race driving for JR Motorsports.
This begs the question; how does Danica compare to other open wheel rookie drivers?
There have been many drivers who have attempted the jump from open wheel racing to NASCAR. Patrick will be the first woman to run in an open wheel series while trying for success in Nationwide. She is the first female to drive for the NASCAR Cup series since Shawna Robinson, the only female to compete in the series in the past two decades.
The current Cup series hosts many open wheel drivers which includes the likings of Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr., and Robby Gordon. NASCAR’s Nationwide series has hosted 14 open wheel drivers for a rookie season, which includes Danica Patrick. Of these drivers, Robby Gordon had a Top 5 and Top 10 finish. 2009 ushered in Scott Speed from the Formula One Series. He was able to accomplish 8 Top 10 finishes in his rookie year. Surprisingly, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish, Jr. had not a single Win, Top 5 nor Top 10 in the series their rookie year. Car owner for Danica’s GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. of JR Motorsports, had only one Top 10 finish his rookie year in 1998.
So far, Danica has yet to achieve a Top 5, Top 10 or a lead lap finish. She is only 4 races into her 16 race schedule. There is no question that there will be a learning curve from one driving series to the next. With Tony Eury Jr.’s previous experience as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief should help propel this new team forward in the standings. Danica learning to drive into the corners and using a heavy fender to pass like Jeff Gordon will put her on the NASCAR map. Given her a continuous momentum, she is set to have a better rookie year than 9 of the previous open wheel rookie drivers. Based on the statistics and the hype generated to this sport, Danica is a success… even if she is a girl!
