NASCAR: What reason do we have to believe Danica Patrick’s plans?
By Asher Fair
It’s been over a month since NASCAR driver Danica Patrick said she would drive in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 in 2018. There is still nothing confirmed.
It was all the way back before the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida that Danica Patrick, 35, announced that she would be retiring from full-time competition following the 2017 season, but would be competing in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2018 in her first IndyCar race since 2011.
Since then, so much has happened, including Martin Truex Jr. being crowned champion of NASCAR’s top level for the first time in his career. The only significant thing that hasn’t happened from a sporting standpoint is that the Cleveland Browns haven’t won a game.
But another thing that still hasn’t happened is confirmation that Danica Patrick will actually be driving in those two races. Given the fact that you need a team to race in these high-profile events, what reason, at this point, do we have to believe that she will actually be driving in those two races in 2018?
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I’m not calling Danica Patrick a liar by any means. But here we are a month after she stated that she would be racing in the 2018 Daytona 500 and the 2018 Indianapolis 500, and there has still been nothing confirmed. And rarely do you hear of drivers announcing their rides in any races without knowing for which team or teams they will be driving.
It was initially thought that she could drive for either Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing in both events since those two teams are the only two teams with teams in both the NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar.
However, Team Penske is at capacity in the Indianapolis 500. In fact, they even had to turn away two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya. As far as Chip Ganassi Racing goes, her talks with the team have recently come to a halt. Whether that halt is temporary or permanent, no one on the outside, or perhaps even on the inside, knows.
For Patrick, it’s unfortunately not like the old days. Sponsors aren’t lining up behind one another to sign with her like they used to. In fact, the main reason she is out at Stewart-Haas Racing in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season after a five-year run there is a lack of sponsorship. So why should we truly believe she will drive in either of these races with nothing confirmed a month after her announcement?
Could she probably put together the funds to enter her own cars in both? Probably. It’s not like she’s hurting for cash given the fact; her net worth is $60 million. But that actually happening is extremely unlikely, and that likely wouldn’t result in her fielding a competitive car anyway, which is what she has made clear she wants.
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Will Danica Patrick end up actually driving in either of these races, the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, in 2018, or will all of the hype surrounding her final two career top-level motorsports event have been for nothing? There should definitely be more development to this story in the coming weeks.