NASCAR: Five possible landing spots for Danica Patrick in 2018
By Asher Fair
IndyCar
While she has not been great whatsoever in NASCAR, Danica Patrick was actually decent when she drove in IndyCar from the 2005 through the 2011 seasons. 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 181 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 91 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 the standings stay as they are with nine races left this season.
However, in 116 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 is extremely clear that she was a better IndyCar driver than she is a NASCAR driver. While she has said that she doesn’t want to leave NASCAR before, having now announced her departure from Stewart-Haas Racing, she may be doing just that, making an IndyCar return a possibility.