In what started out as a promising NASCAR Cup Series career with a pole position at the 2013 Daytona 500, Danica Patrick’s run in NASCAR is one that she should end very soon.
Following a seven-year career in IndyCar in which she was one of the most consistent drivers in the field, Danica Patrick decided to hunt for a full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series. She finally got that ride in 2013 with Stewart-Haas Racing, one of the best teams in the sport, and kicked it off by taking the pole position for the Daytona 500.
But things haven’t exactly gone as planned for Patrick, 35, in her No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing machine in the five seasons in which she has driven full-time. Because of this, and because of all of the information I am about to present you with, she should probably just hang up her helmet already. Here are five reasons why.
Inability To Deliver Results
Sure, Danica Patrick’s career got off to a solid start when she took pole for the 2013 Daytona 500. She ever had a solid race to go along with it, as she finished in 8th place and was in the lead group throughout much of the race.
However, to this day, that has been one of her best career NASCAR Cup Series races. Since that 8th place finish over four years ago, she has tied it just once and bettered it only three times. Through 169 career Cup Series starts, she has yet to finish a single race in the top 5, with her best finish being a 6th place effort at Atlanta in 2014.
Here are some more notable statistics that show just how poorly she has performed over the years. She has just seven top 10 finishes in her career, and her recent 10th place finish at Dover was her first top 10 in over two years and her first top 15 of the season, meaning it took her 13 races to finally finish in the top 15 in 2017.
Her four finishes in the championship standings from 2013 to 2016 are as follows: 27th place, 28th place, 24th place and 24th place, respectively. She is currently in 30th place, which would be her career-worst finish.
No one remembers 2nd place in the long run in racing. It’s all about winning, and Danica Patrick hasn’t even come close to winning or even finishing on the podium.
Wrecks & Overall Danger
Everyone knows that racing is one of the riskiest sports on the planet. Danica Patrick has had her fair share of accidents, and scary ones at that, with the latest coming just this past week at Michigan.
While she has had her share of wrecks, she admits that she has been fortunate enough to have not sustained any major injuries over the course of her career. But she also realizes the fact that one of these times, she may not be as fortunate.
Here is the scary wreck in the middle of May that caused her to respond this way. Her car was destroyed, but she was able to walk away with no major injuries. However, Aric Almirola, who was also involved in the three-car wreck, was not, as he suffered a compression fracture to his T5 vertebra, an injury which he is still recovering from.
Sure, wrecks can happen to anyone. But as of now, Patrick has the second-highest total of DNF’s among all full-time drivers this season with six. That six is good enough for her highest career total ever, as her wreck at Michigan caused that total to surpass her previous career-high total of five in 2013.
Keep in mind that just 15 races have been completed thus far this season and there are still 21 to go. Despite this statistic, she has already set a career-high for DNF’s, so things don’t appear to be getting better for her.
She isn’t exactly a reckless driver that takes herself out of these races. But seeing as how close to 100% of injuries in racing come as a result of wrecks, it really doesn’t matter who is causing the wrecks in which she is involved. At the end of the day, a wreck is a wreck, and those involved may or may not be injured regardless of whether or not they started the wreck. There will always be danger in racing.
Lack Of Enjoyment
In order to put your life on the line and drive at over 200 miles per hour on a weekly basis, you need to have a lot of enjoyment and passion for what you do. Danica Patrick just doesn’t have that passion anymore, and she has said so herself.
"“As long as it’s fun – and it hasn’t been super fun lately. But every year I start the year, I always have hope that it’s going to be the year that things are going to click. I understand my career hasn’t progressed. Maybe it’s regressed? Why is that? Am I worse driver than I was a couple of years ago? Probably not. I don’t think anybody gets worse. So it’s really a matter of all the factors around you.”"
She’s going out there every week risking her life doing something she hasn’t been enjoying lately, doesn’t need to be doing to make a living, and frankly isn’t even great at. In the end, is it really worth it without the reward exceeding or even coming close to the risk?
She’s Driving For A Top-Tier Team
Yea, yea, the Danica Patrick fans of the world will complain about this article and say how “she still does better than plenty of other drivers.” And that is actually a true statement. She’s currently 30th in the championship standings with between 37 and 40 drivers driving every race.
However, look who she’s ahead of. She’s ahead of drivers on small teams like TriStar Motorsports, Front Row Motorsports, Go FAS Racing, BK Racing, Premium Motorsports and Circle Sport/TMG. Those teams don’t have great cars, nor do they have great drivers. They may even be teams you have never heard of before!
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Danica Patrick is driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, one of the top teams in the sport. She has the luxury of being on a four-car team with three other race contenders every single weekend and she still is way down in the standings and has been since she started her full-time role in 2013.
In fact, besides Patrick, the lowest driver in the standings that is actually on a large, solid team is Paul Menard, and he is six spots ahead of her in 24th place driving for Richard Childress Racing, a team that Stewart-Haas Racing is still a good bit better than.
A seat with Stewart-Haas Racing should go to a driver that is going to have a great chance to be a contender each weekend. Danica Patrick is not that driver, and she should retire because it sure doesn’t look like things are getting better.
She Has Already Peaked
Some people still anticipate that she could somehow break out and start winning races and being a contender. But the fact is, that just isn’t the case. While her past two finishes in the championship standings are tied for her career-high, here’s why that is not the case.
A career-high NASCAR Cup Series standings finish of 24th place through four seasons may not seem like a peak for many people. But for Danica Patrick, it is. As mentioned earlier, she has not had one single top 5 finish in 169 career Cup Series races and rarely finishes in the top 10 or even the top 15. Why should she start now all of a sudden?
One place she has had good results in is IndyCar. Even though she only won one race in her seven-year IndyCar career, she finished lower than 10th place in the standings just once, with that being a 12th place finish in her rookie season. Her career-high finish was a 5th place effort in 2009. In seven Indianapolis 500 races, she never finished lower than 10th place in a race she did not crash, and she only crashed once. Her career-high finish was a 3rd place effort in 2009.
The bottom line is the fact that she certainly does know how to drive a race car. The problem is that despite this fact, she has still not been able to perform well in NASCAR, and she appears to be getting worse. Her peak years are behind her, and all of the evidence backs that up.
Next: Could This Be Danica Patrick's Final Season In NASCAR?
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