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Indy 500: Danica Patrick’s return is more than just a publicity stunt

By Asher Fair

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 21: Danica Patrick, driver of the #7 Team GoDaddy Dallara Honda (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 21: Danica Patrick, driver of the #7 Team GoDaddy Dallara Honda (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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Danica Patrick’s NASCAR career was unquestionably a publicity stunt. But her return to the Indy 500 for the first time since 2011 is not.

After driving for seven seasons in IndyCar from 2005 to 2011, six-time Most Popular Driver Award winner Danica Patrick left for NASCAR. In the 2012 season, she competed full-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, and from the 2013 season to the 2017 season, she competed full-time for Stewart-Haas Racing before announcing her departure from the team late last season.

Patrick, 36, announced later in the season that she would still be competing in the 2018 Daytona 500 before making her return to IndyCar to drive in the Indianapolis 500 in what would be her final race as a professional driver.

After driving in the Daytona 500 in February for Premium Motorsports, Patrick is set to drive in the Indy 500 for Ed Carpenter Racing next Sunday to wrap up her professional racing career. But while many will deem her return to IndyCar a publicity stunt, that could not be further from the truth.

Yes, Patrick’s IndyCar career featured only one victory in seven seasons, yet she did win the Most Popular Driver Award in each of her first seven seasons. However, only once in those seven seasons did she finish outside of the top 10 in the championship standings when she finished in 12th place in the 2005 season, and she finished as high as fifth in the 2009 season.

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In her seven career Indy 500 starts, Patrick never won, but she has had an exceptional record. She finished the race six times, and she did so in the top 10 in each of those six races. She finished as high as third place in the 2009 Indy 500.

Patrick’s average finish of 8.71 in the race ranks fifth highest among the 35 drivers entered in this year’s Indy 500, and it ranks second highest behind only the average finish of three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves (7.00) among the 18 drivers entered in this year’s Indy 500 who have driven in the race at least six times before.

There are only four drivers who are entered in this year’s Indy 500 who have more top 10 finishes in the race than Patrick does. Those drivers are Castroneves (14 top 10 finishes in 17 races), 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan (nine top 10 finishes in 16 races), 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon (10 top 10 finishes in 15 races), and 2006 Indy 500 runner-up Marco Andretti (eight top 10 finishes in 12 races).

All of those drivers have driven in the race at least 12 times, while Patrick has done so only seven times as has six top 10 finishes to her name.

Yes, there is an element of publicity that comes with Patrick returning to the Indy 500 for the first time since 2011 for her final race as a professional driver. But her return isn’t all a publicity stunt given what she has done in IndyCar and in Indy 500 in the past.

Yes, Patrick drove in 61 NASCAR Xfinity Series races and had just one top five finish, and yes, she drove in 191 NASCAR Cup Series races and finished in the top 10 just seven times and had a career-high finish of sixth place, and no, she never finished higher than 24th in the Cup Series championship standings. Her NASCAR career was undoubtedly a publicity stunt.

But this is IndyCar. This is the Indy 500. Her return is certainly more than just a publicity stunt.

Next: Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time

Tune in to Danica Patrick’s return to IndyCar in the Indy 500, which is her final race as a professional driver, on ABC at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 27.