Could this be Danica Patrick’s Final Season in NASCAR?

By Asher Fair | Jun 3, 2017

May 28, 2017; Concord, NC, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Danica Patrick (10) through turn 4 during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports /

In her fifth full-time NASCAR Cup Series season, Danica Patrick may very well be nearing the end of her NASCAR career. Could this be her last season?

When Danica Patrick, 35, first got her full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2013 with Stewart-Haas Racing, she started it off as good as anyone could possibly start it off by taking pole for the Daytona 500. While she did not win the “Great American Race”, she did go on to finish in 8th place.

Here’s the kicker. In the 155 Cup races in which she has competed since, she has topped that 8th place finish just three times, with her best finish only being a 6th place effort at Atlanta in the fall of 2014.

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From 2013 through 2016, her championship standings results are 27th, 28th, 24th and 24th place, respectively. So far this season, she is sitting in just 32nd place with five DNFs, the 2nd highest total among all Cup drivers.

Having not finished in the top 15 of any race since the Charlotte fall race last year, having not finished in the top 10 of any race since the Bristol spring race in 2015, and having never finished in the top 5 of any Cup race in 166 attempts, one can only assume that 2017 will her final season as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.

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Despite driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, one of NASCAR’s top teams over the years, Danica Patrick has failed to collect solid results race after race. This season alone, Stewart-Haas Racing is one of the best teams if not the best team in the sport. Two of its drivers are in the top 9 in the championship standings, with Kevin Harvick, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion, leading the way in 4th. Clint Bowyer sits in 9th.

Stewart-Haas Racing is also the only team with two drivers in the top 9 as well as another driver in the top 19. That other driver, Kurt Busch, also a former NASCAR Cup Series champion, is all the way up in 14th, and he won this year’s Daytona 500. The fourth driver is Danica Patrick, the subject of this article, who sits in 32nd in the standings with a top finish of 17th place through 12 races this season. That should not be the case for a team as strong as Stewart-Haas Racing.

At the very least, it’s hard to see Danica Patrick staying with Stewart-Haas Racing past this season. And with the sponsorship issues she’s had even with one of NASCAR’s top teams, it’s tough to see her getting a full-time ride and a full-time sponsor with a smaller-market team. Also, Patrick herself has said that she hasn’t been having much fun driving lately and that he career has not progressed.

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