Beyond the Flag
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NASCAR: Five possible landing spots for Danica Patrick in 2018

By Asher Fair

JOLIET, IL - SEPTEMBER 15: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Aspen Dental Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on September 15, 2017 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
JOLIET, IL - SEPTEMBER 15: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Aspen Dental Ford, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on September 15, 2017 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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BROOKLYN, MI – AUGUST 12: Erik Jones, driver of the #77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, MI – AUGUST 12: Erik Jones, driver of the #77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

NASCAR Cup Series – #77 car (continued)

Depending on which team bought the charter for the #77 Toyota, Danica Patrick could be an option to drive it in the 2018 season. She has stated that she doesn’t want to be in a situation where she is driving around in the back of the pack, so again, it may depend on which team bought it.

"“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.”"

As evidenced by the fact that Erik Jones in the #77 car has had a remarkable rookie season with 11 top 10 finishes, including four top 5 finishes and three podium finishes, the #77 car is indeed fast, so if the charter was bought by a good team, Patrick may be among the contenders to get the seat.

Sure, Patrick’s results throughout her Cup Series career have not been great by any stretch of the imagination. She has started 181 races and finished in the top 10 just seven times with no top 5 finishes, and just one of those seven top 10 finishes has taken place in the last 91 races. Those numbers don’t warrant being signed by a great team like Stewart-Haas Racing, the team she has driven for the past five years but will no longer be driving for in the 2018 season.

However, signing Patrick to drive the #77 car could be in the best interest of both the team who bought the charter and NASCAR itself. Naturally, if she does get signed, the team that signed her will get a massive amount of publicity for signing her. Given her lackluster statistics in the Cup Series, you could make the case that she has only been in the sport for as long as she has been because of the publicity she brings, so this would be a huge signing.

In turn, this would help NASCAR retain the many fans that would leave the sport if Patrick ended up leaving. With Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 14-time defending Most Popular Driver Award winner, already set to retire at the end of this season, NASCAR would greatly benefit by Patrick staying full-time, as she, too, has a huge fanbase that the sport should not want to lose.

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