Why Does Danica Patrick Even Have Haters?

In most sports, NASCAR included, the greatest athletes are the ones that have the most haters, not the athletes that fail to produce. Danica Patrick is an exception.

In sports, the top athletes always seem to be the ones that are most hated. Be it LeBron James in the NBA, Tom Brady in the NFL, Sidney Crosby in the NHL or Bryce Harper in the MLB, the best athletes in each sport get the most hate from fans of the sport they play.

NASCAR is no different in that respect. Drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are among the best the sport has to offer, and they are the drivers that haters criticize the most often.

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Naturally, most of this hate stems from jealousy. After all, Johnson has won a record seven NASCAR championships and Busch is driver who attracts lots of attention and has also won a NASCAR championship of his own. He is 2nd to Johnson in the wins category in the playoffs era.

But after Johnson and Busch in NASCAR, the next most hated driver is probably Danica Patrick. Who would be jealous of her NASCAR Cup Series career, which has featured next to no success? And why would they be jealous? Why does she, for lack of a better word, deserve, haters?

In 173 career races, she has never finished in the top 5 and has finished in the top 10 on just seven occasions, with just one of those seven occasions having come over the course of the past 83 races. That one result was only a 10th place finish last month at Dover. She isn’t getting any better, either.

While she is currently on a streak of two consecutive top 15 finishes, that is not something to brag about. This is actually the first time she has ever been on such a streak despite driving in 173 Cup Series races, which illustrates just how badly she has struggled on NASCAR’s top level.

So, again, why does she even have haters?

Sure, there are people who want her out of the series, but that’s simply because she is driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, a top-tier team, and still failing to deliver solid results. Those people aren’t hating; they’re simply stating the facts about her lack of success. Statistics aren’t haters. Ever. The numbers speak for themselves, and everything these people say is absolutely correct.

But the fact remains that some people actually are Danica Patrick haters that simply don’t like her, which makes no sense given that she is not on the level of Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch in NASCAR. What is there to be jealous of? An occasional top 20 finish?

Next: Who Will Replace Danica Patrick?

Do you think there is any reason to hate on Danica Patrick? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow me on Instagram as well as Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions, and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.

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