IndyCar: Could Danica Patrick return in 2018?

By Asher Fair | Sep 14, 2017

LAS VEGAS - OCTOBER 16: Danica Patrick, driver of the #7 Team Go Daddy Andretti Autosport Dallara Honda climbs aboard an IndyCar for the final time before the start of the IZOD IndyCar World Series Championship on October 16, 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /

Danica Patrick is officially out at Stewart-Haas Racing in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season. Could she make a return to IndyCar?

Danica Patrick, 35, announced yesterday that she was stepping away from her driving duties of the #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in the 2018 season, a responsibility she has had full-time since the beginning of the 2013 season. With her future in the NASCAR Cup Series in doubt, could a potential return to IndyCar be on the horizon for her?

As awful as she has been in NASCAR, Patrick actually wasn’t nearly as bad in IndyCar. In fact, despite the fact that she won just one race in seven IndyCar seasons, she was regularly one of the better drivers in the field.

In 180 career NASCAR Cup Series races, she has failed to win a single race, and she has never even finished in the top 5. She has finished in the top 10 seven times, with just one of those top 10 finishes coming in the last 90 races. She has just one career pole position start.

In four full seasons prior to the start of this season, her highest finish in the championship standings is 24th place, and she has finished as low as 28th. She currently sits in 28th in the standings, which would tie her career-worst finish if it stays as it is.

More from Danica Patrick

However, in 115 career IndyCar races, she won a race at Japan and recorded seven podium finishes, 20 top 5 finishes and 63 top 10 finishes. She started on pole three times. In seven Indianapolis 500 starts, she finished the race six times, doing so in the top 10 each time with a career-high finish of 3rd place in 2009.

In seven full seasons in IndyCar, her lowest finish in the championship standings was 12th place, and that happened in her rookie season. That 12th place finish in the standings was the only season during which she finished lower than 10th in the standings. Her career-high finish was 5th in 2009.

With a good sample size of races in both racing series, it’s extremely clear that she was a better IndyCar driver than she is a NASCAR driver. But will she come back to IndyCar now that she has announced her departure from Stewart-Haas Racing?

She has said before that she doesn’t want to leave NASCAR. However, having announced her departure from Stewart-Haas Racing, she may be doing just that. But while she may not be in NASCAR at all next year, coming to IndyCar is not a likelihood for her.

IndyCar’s open seats are filling up quickly for next year, so Patrick would need to come with a great sponsor, which isn’t something anyone should lay their hopes on seeing as how she has had sponsorship issues lately with Stewart-Haas Racing. However, crazier things have happened.

Could she come to IndyCar next year? Absolutely. Will she? That remains to be seen.

Next: Five possible replacement candidates for Danica Patrick in 2018

Could you see Danica Patrick making a return to IndyCar? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure 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. Also be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.