Harvick On Danica Patrick “She’s Never Going To Catch Up”
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Danica Patrick is on the verge of completing her second full NASCAR Sprint Cup season. By all accounts Patrick’s second season is better than her first season. In 2014 Patrick has more top-20 finishes including her best finish of her Sprint Cup career. Patrick is also qualifying better in 2014 then she did in 2013 as well as showing more overall speed. Despite the strides that she has made, Patrick still seems destined to finish in about the same spot in the standings. In 2013 she finished 27th in the final standings and with only five races remaining in 2014 she finds herself 28th in the standings.
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Although Patrick seems to be on the rise teammate Kevin Harvick feels that she will never quite be able to reach the level of the other drivers. The reason behind that has nothing to do with her gender or level of talent but instead her background. Unlike the majority of the Sprint Cup Series drivers who have been in Sprint Cup cars for years, Patrick’s background is in IndyCar. As a result of that she will never have the same amount of experience as the majority of the drivers she is racing on the track.
Below are Harvick’s comments courtesy of Fox Sports.
"Danica can run in the top 15 every week and … really at any style racetrack if it all goes right. She has the speed and she has qualified way better, and just experience is going to go a long ways in this sport. She’s improved in every category, her cars are better than they were last year, but she’s improved in every category on the list.She will always be behind. She’s never going to catch up to what I do, she’s never going to catch up to what Jimmie Johnson does, she’s never going to overcome those hurdles, because we’ve all done this for 20-some years. You’re never going to make up that experience in knowing that if the track slows down, you’re going to have to do this or you’ve been in this position before and you have to move up the racetrack or down the racetrack or whatever it is. She’s very good at digesting information and trying to overcome those hurdles by listening to the people that are around her."
Harvick does make a good point in that no matter how many years Patrick drives in the Sprint Cup Series other drivers are always going to have more experience. That being said, Patrick is making progress and 2016 is going to be a big year for her much like the third year in the league is a big an NFL quarterback. While a win might not be needed in 2016 Patrick will need to show more consistent finishes. Those finishes inside of the top-30 need to consistently become finishes inside of the top-20 and the finishes outside of the top-30 need to decrease.
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Christopher Olmstead is the Editor of BeyondTheFlag.com on the FanSided Network. Follow us on Twitter @Beyond_The_Flag and “Like” us on Facebook.