Indy 500: IndyCar cannot afford a Danica Patrick victory

Recent similar situations?

IndyCar had a similar Indianapolis 500 situation last year with Fernando Alonso, who competes full-time in Formula One but had never driven in an IndyCar race prior to last year’s Indy 500. In fact, after he qualified in 5th place for the race, four-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton called into question just how good the IndyCar field is seeing as how Alonso, a Formula One driver, qualified 5th on an oval track with no prior IndyCar or oval track racing experience.

However, Alonso is not Danica Patrick. What his speed showed is just how good he is, not how bad the IndyCar field is. Alonso is a two-time Formula One champion whose victory total in the sport is 32, which ranks sixth on the all-time wins list, so despite the fact that last year’s Indy 500 was his first IndyCar start, him winning the race, which he had a great chance to do before his Honda engine let go on him with 21 laps remaining, would not have been all that detrimental to the sport.

IndyCar had another similar situation in 2014 with Kurt Busch, who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series and was actually a teammate to Patrick in four of her five full-time seasons in the sport at Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch finished in 6th place in the race, his first career IndyCar race, after starting in 12th.

But again, Busch is not Patrick. He entered the 2014 Indy 500 as the 2004 Cup Series champion with 25 career victories in the sport. Him having success in the Indy 500 certainly did not make the field look bad; it simply made him look really good.