Danica Patrick said this
weekend that she has likely not run her final Indianapolis 500.
Firmly entrenched in her new career as a NASCAR stock car
racer, the former Indy Car star admitted he has thought about attempting the
much-discussed Indy/Charlotte double; running both Indy and the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“(It’s) not a mystery that if I did the Indy 500, that's
what it would be," said Patrick, adding that she could attempt the Memorial
Day weekend double as soon as next season. "As long as everything works
out and we're able to transition to Cup, it would be awesome. It would be a
hell of a lot of work, but I'm sure it would be pretty fun.
"Indy is special to me," said Patrick, adding that
while she misses open wheel racing and is anxious to compete in an Indy Car
again, she will not do so at the expense of her NASCAR effort. "If I were
to attempt it, I wouldn't want to do anything that would tarnish all my great
memories and the successes that I've had there by going out in an attempt that
wouldn't be comfortable for me.”
Patrick could contest the full NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule
with Stewart Haas Racing next season, or return for another Nationwide Series campaign
with JR Motorsports. She is running a 10-race Cup slate with SHR this year.
After hearing how her former team feels about her, I'm guessing it won't be with Andretti. How cool would that be though? Getting enough sponsor money to be able to go out and finish multiple laps down in the two biggest races of Memorial weekend. Maybe we can start memorializing when drivers looked like they fell out of the ugly tree, but could wheel the pee out of it... Still gruntled?
ReplyDeleteWe were talking about missing the double this weekend. Whose tried it? We came up with John Andretti and Robby Gordon. Did Stewie try it? Haven't googled that yet.
ReplyDeleteDoes Stewart have the resources for an Indy car team? Stewart and Jr? A 2 car team, Stewart and Danica? A possible super team, Stewart/Hendrick/Haas/Jr/Chevy?
Looking forward to how this developes.
I think Danica needs more seat time in a Sprint car than what she will have by the next Indy 500. I think she is learning her way with the NW and Sprint cars, but I don't think she will be ready for the double next year.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Hinchtown should try the double too.
ReplyDelete