NASCAR: Jeff Gordon Is Right About Danica Patrick

Jeff Gordon recently shared some of his thoughts on Danica Patrick and the four-time NASCAR Champion made a few valid points.

Throughout his 23-year NASCAR career, Jeff Gordon only spent four years racing against Danica Patrick. In those years, the two never really saw much action together as Patrick was usually hanging around in the middle of the pack and Gordon was mainly competing in the top-15.

During her time racing with Gordon, Patrick only finished in the top-10 on six different occasions, had just one pole and led 27 laps, most coming as a result of green flag pit stops.

Recently, Gordon spoke on his expectations for Patrick, which were documented in an article from Dustin Long of NBC Sports. If you would like to read the whole piece, you can access it here.

"“I think this is a crucial year for Danica. I love having her in the sport. I think she’s great for the sport. But it’s either she is going to be in a position where this is where she fits in and this is sort of status quo — you’re goal is to get from 23rd to 20th? Or this is the year where it’s, ‘Hey, we’re breaking in top 10s and really starting to see some great progress.”"

Gordon made a lot of sense with the point he was trying to make here. It seems as if every year, and every race, we see Patrick struggle. Her average finish through four years is 25.9 and she has never really had an opportunity to get a win.

For example, she finished in 9th place last year in Bristol’s spring race, but Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch all were either involved in wrecks or had other issues that caused them to finish at least a lap down.

Another reason Gordon’s point is valid is because of Patrick’s history of getting into wrecks. Last year in the fall race at Martinsville, she let another driver get the best of her and initiated a lot of contact that was simply not necessary.

For Patrick, it’s about actually showing some improvement as her career moves along and not giving us the same results week in and week out.

Gordon went on to speak on Patrick’s work on the track:

"“I’ve seen Danica drive very fast, run some great laps and do a great job qualifying. In the race, I’d like to see her search around a little bit more and take that experience that she has now had the last few years in learning the tracks and the competitors and start to utilize that to show what a racer she is.”"

As mentioned above, Patrick races in the middle of the pack a lot. There are two reasons for that: her cars are never that great and she is not as aggressive as she could be on the track. Then, whenever she is aggressive, bad things tend to happen, like the on-track beef between her and David Gilliland.

Gordon mentioned that she has experience and that gives her an advantage over other drivers since she has raced with IndyCar and NASCAR. It’s up to her to use that experience as a benefit.

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Danica Patrick is a very talented racer and a lot of the hate that she gets is unfair. She inked a new multiyear contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing back in August, meaning that she still has a time to turn her luck around before being forced to find a new team. If she uses the vast knowledge she has in the world of auto racing, she could become an exciting talent in NASCAR. It’s all about having the right mindset.