Tag: Danica Patrick

Was it a plan to begin with or simply a result of experience on racing?

Yes… Jeff Gordon overtook Danica Patrick on lap one of the Daytona 500 to lead it for the opening laps. Patrick seemed all too happy to ride along in the 2 spot between Gordon and Kyle Busch.

That was the start of the Great American Race as they turned those opening laps over an obvious light spot on the front stretch. That spot was the remnant of an airborne blender from the Nationwide Series race the day before. That incident was on everyone’s mind all morning long not because of the track damage so much as race fans were involved and injured. Drivers spin and crash as almost a matter of course but fans involved casts a shadow over it all…

In-race reports kept updates on those fans which still listed a few in the hospital but recovering well. (more…)

Where did they have it tucked away over the weekend?

The speed, that is…

Wednesday practice at Daytona was showing several cars running above 197 mph. A couple topped 198…

It is interesting as the qualifying topped in the midway over 196. Danica Patrick snagged the pole with a lap of 196.434. Wednesday, Michael Waltrip pushed his Toyota 2mph faster.

Does this point to pack running with a draft, weather, gravity, lunar phase, the price of oranges…? Does this point to immediate trouble for Patrick to hold that position or is this an indicator for this new Gen-6 car in a pack race over single run qualifying?

We probably won’t have to wait long. The Budweiser Duals will likely give a better indication than the Sprint Unlimited from the weekend.

The season, the pressure, the questions and the price of oranges are all on the table for the Daytona 500.

Wow.

Is it a surprise that Danica Patrick rolls out on top of the grid for the Daytona 500? Perhaps… But her position as the pole sitter says something about her adaptation to the sport despite her general lack of experience compared to many veterans who drove laps behind her. However, it was just a year ago she was on the pole for the Nationwide Series opener at Daytona. How many times has a Nationwide Daytona pole winner come back in a Sprint Cup series car to win the pole the very next year?

The real surprise is the unwelcome response from too many “NASCAR” fans about Patrick and her mere presence inside a Sprint Cup car. What is it that makes some of these “fans” so adamant in their dislike? Is it that she is a woman? Is that really the only reason? Are they really that narrow? She is certainly not the first woman to get behind the wheel… (more…)

Bristol. They tinkered with it and made it a race track instead of a bang’em and rack’em horsepower brawl. The re-surface in 2007 removed the groove and put racing over banging. The push and shove inner lane was opened to full track grip giving more lines for drivers to ride. For racing, passing and team strategies it was all good.

Fans, however, fell true to stereotypes and were not impressed with drivers doing their jobs and racing without wrecking. Fans wanted to see the faster guy bump and shove the slower guy out of the groove. If that meant a spin into the wall and sour tempers in the garage then that was just foam on the beer. (more…)

The Nationwide Series runs at Richmond International Raceway with the 529 College Savings 250. For the NNS race it is common for Cup drivers to get lots of attention from the press.

Saturday in Richmond, during qualifying, it was evident that the IndyCar crossover, Danica Patrick, is still a novelty for NASCAR news.

Photogs and press surrounded the GoDaddy #7 Chevy when Danica approached the car. Denny Hamlin went by and hardly a lens turned. There went Keselowski… and Kyle Busch… Still, the cameras and mics were on Danica.

Yes, “Missed Gear” was no different. We stayed near the green of the GoDaddy #7… (more…)

Elliott Sadler. Pleasant fellow. Easy personality. NASCAR driver.

Everybody knows who he is. He has won in Sprint Cup. He has driven for a number of teams. His introductions at the track generally draw applause and welcome cheers.

His record in Cup races highlights a few wins plus top 5 and top 10 finishes placing him generally in the upper tier of drivers. This, however, has not necessarily brought him into the limelight of NASCAR stardom.

Until now…

Sadler has created momentum in the early season of the Nationwide Series. Backed by Richard Childress Racing from the shops previously run by Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler has taken the #2 OneMain Financial Chevy to Victory Lane twice in the first four races of the 2012 season. He won at Phoenix and just registered the second win at the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Bristol. (more…)

The only thing missing from the Monday night Daytona 500 was James Taylor and Tom Cruise. We already have the Three Stooges as Grand Marshals..

However, as a movie drama the editing was botched. The lap 2 crash should have been put off till much later. Why would you cast a record champion, a rookie winner and an antagonist woman and have them out in just the second lap…? That doesn’t make hay for a good story.

But wait…! We get a fire explosion in the last quarter of the film! On top of that we get the most popular star into an “almost win” scenario at the finish!

What…!?

“And then… we flash forward from Victory Lane to the end of the season and the Earth implodes in December as the fire damaged pavement cracks open causing a world-wide chain reaction with John Cusack in a small plane…”

“Can we get George Clooney…?”

The Daytona 500 was hardly the start of the Sprint Cup season that NASCAR wanted. There was just too much drama leading up to the actual race and too much “weird” in the race itself. Rain stayed over Daytona setting the scene for a first ever prime time night event. It was a poorly written script as a movie which makes it comical as reality. We should have guessed when we saw Darrell Waltrip talking with the Three Stooges… (more…)