NASCAR: Five reasons Danica Patrick leaving Stewart-Haas Racing is the right decision

Inability to deliver great results

Danica Patrick’s NASCAR Cup Series career as a full-time driver for Stewart-Haas Racing got off to a splendid start at the beginning of the 2013 season when she took pole for the Daytona 500, becoming the first woman to ever take pole for a Cup Series race.

She had a solid race to go along with that spectacular performance in qualifying, as she finished in 8th place and was in the lead group throughout much of thee vent.

However, more than four and a half years later, that 8th place finish has still unfortunately been one of her best career Cup Series races. Since that 8th place finish in 2013, she has tied it just once and bettered it only three times.

Through 180 career Cup Series starts, she has yet to win a race. In fact, she has yet to finish a single race in the top 5, with her best finish being only a 6th place result at Atlanta back in the 2014 season.

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. That result is her lone top 10 finish in the last 90 races, a race total that makes up half of her Cup Series career.

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 28th place heading into the playoffs, which would tie her career-worst finish.