Beyond the Flag
Fansided

NASCAR: Danica Patrick says she will only drive in Cup Series

By Asher Fair

BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 11: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Code 3 Associates Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 11, 2017 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 11: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Code 3 Associates Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 11, 2017 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

If her NASCAR career is to continue past the end of the 2017 season, Danica Patrick says it will do so in the Cup Series and only in the Cup Series.

There is uncertainty surrounding the future of Danica Patrick in the NASCAR Cup Series. Patrick, 35, currently drives the #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and has done so since the start of the 2013 season when she took pole for the Daytona 500.

There have been rumors of Patrick perhaps retiring from the sport or possibly driving in the Xfinity Series. After all, her statistics throughout her Cup Series career have been nothing more than lackluster, and she has recently had sponsorship issues.

Those two things don’t go well when you’re driving for a top-tier organization such as Stewart-Haas Racing like she is and has been for five seasons, so the rumors of her no longer being in the Cup Series following the 2017 season are certainly reasonable.

In 177 career Cup Series starts, Patrick has finished in the top 10 just seven times, with just one of those seven top 10 finishes having come in the last 87 races (10th place at Dover earlier this season). She has never finished in the top 5 in any race, and her best finish in the championship standings is only 24th.

More from Danica Patrick

But, according to Patrick, if her NASCAR career is to continue beyond the conclusion of the 2017 season, it’s going to be in the Cup Series and the Cup Series only. It won’t be in the Truck Series, and it won’t be in the Xfinity Series, where she drove full-time in the 2012 season. If she can’t compete in the Cup Series, she simply won’t be competing in NASCAR at all, and she made that very clear.

"“Cup only…I want to continue racing if I have an opportunity to do well. I have no interest, as I’ve said for years now, to run 25th. It’s not fun. So if I don’t feel like I can have the opportunity to move on from there and have a better opportunity, then honestly I don’t care.”"

Next: Top 10 active NASCAR drivers from an all-time perspective

Do you think Danica Patrick will be back in the Cup Series in the 2018 season? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Finally, 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.

Home/Danica Patrick