Tough Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start for Danica Patrick
So, what’s new with Danica Patrick?
She launched her own line of athletic clothing (Patrick calls the style "athleisure"), labeled Warrior, earlier this year. She has a winery, Somnium, in California’s famed Napa Valley region. She’s working on a health and fitness book, titled "Pretty Intense," scheduled for release next January.
What’s not new: Patrick has begun the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season with disappointing results.
Two were beyond her control: Patrick was caught in a multi-car accident during the Daytona 500. Last week, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, her engine blew in the closing laps. In between, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, she finished 17th.
“We just have to keep working hard,” said Patrick, who starts 26th in today’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. “It’s all you can do.”
Two other new experiences for Patrick, who uses her Scottsdale home as base when NASCAR’s schedule brings her toward the West Coast: Her Stewart-Haas Racing team has shifted to Ford, from Chevrolet, and the Blue Oval brand seems to have had a speed advantage in the early season. And, very unusual for the one-time national marketing superstar for GoDaddy.com, her No. 10 Fusion isn’t fully sponsored.
MORE COVERAGE: NASCAR weekend at Phoenix Raceway
Nature’s Bakery, Patrick’s primary backer last season, and SHR are suing each other for breach of contract. Aspen Dental quickly increased its involvement while TaxAct has four races as her primary sponsor, including PIR.
“I think we were all taken a little off-guard by that (Nature’s Bakery),” said Patrick. “It definitely is not ideal. But the good thing is, I think, we have 24 (of 36) races sold.”
Ford executives have said the automaker will make sure she stays on the track. Meanwhile, she’s trying to get more of a settled feeling with the lower downforce rules NASCAR has this year, including a rear spoiler just under 2.4 inches high.
“I have done better with more downforce and I tend to like more downforce,” she admitted. “I don’t really care about sliding around in the middle or exit (of corners). It’s the sliding on entry that’s not good for me.
“I don’t know if it’s having come from such a (high) downforce background (IndyCars). I don’t have that dirt racing background of just ‘Sail it off in there sideways.’ It’s not a comfort zone for me.”
Age issue
While the top of Sunday's field is filled with NASCAR’s emerging generation of 20-something drivers, the same can’t be said of six leading team owners.
Rick Hendrick (drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne) is 67. Richard Childress (Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard), 71. Jack Roush (Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), 74. Joe Gibbs (Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Daniel Suarez), 76. Richard Petty (Aric Almirola), 79. Roger Penske (Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski), 80.
Is that a cause of concern within the sport/industry?
“Yeah, without a doubt,” admitted Johnson, the seven-time Cup champion in Hendrick’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy. “I know Rick loves winning and plans on being here for a long time, but I don’t know what his plan is. (Hendrick’s son, Ricky, expected to take control of the team, died with family members and others in a 2004 airplane crash.)
“When you look around at the super teams, all of the owners, none of them will officially retire because they’re just workaholics. But age is up there for all of them . . . we have a generation of car owners that could all retire or stop racing at the same time.
“That’s scary."
MORE: PIR's Bryan Sperber has had eventful presidency
‘In drivers’ hands’
NASCAR is not seriously considering allowing drivers to have a cockpit control that would electronically drop speed to that required on pit road. There were about a dozen pit road speeding penalties two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
IndyCar, Formula One, IMSA sports cars and other series allow such a device.
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR vice president and chief racing development officer, told azcentral sports: “We still like that aspect of the sport to keep it in the drivers’ hands. I’d say it’s almost 50-50 when you talk to the competitors. It’s an element that can change things up on pit road.”
PIR’s pit road speed is 45 mph with a 5 mph tolerance.
O’Donnell also confirmed what azcentral sports first reported last November: Xfinity Series teams are being notified that restrictor-plate engines will be used this July at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If successful in making what is arguably NASCAR’s second most important race more exciting, restrictor-plate engines (now only used at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway) could be mandated for next year’s Brickyard 400 Cup race, which has seen a dramatic attendance decline in recent years.
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Pit stops
As of Saturday afternoon, grandstand tickets remained available.
Tucson’s Alex Bowman, who qualified on the pole and led most of last November PIR race, doesn’t have a full-time ride in any of NASCAR’s three national series. He isn’t at PIR this weekend.
In a cost-cutting move, teams will have seven sets of Goodyear tires for the race, two less than last season. Cars must start on the same set used for qualifying.