Indy 500: Danica Patrick officially retires from professional racing

By Asher Fair | May 27, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Danica Patrick, driver of the #13 GoDaddy Chevrolet (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Following the 2018 Indy 500, IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick has officially retired from her career as a professional race car driver.

Danica Patrick has officially retired from her career as a professional race car driver following her lap 68 crash in the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at the four-turn, 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana.

The Indy 500 was Patrick’s first IndyCar race since she left the sport following the conclusion of the 2011 season. After driving in IndyCar full-time from the 2005 season to the 2011 season for Rahal Letterman Racing in the 2005 season and the 2006 season and Andretti Green Racing (Andretti Autosport) from the 2007 season to the 2011 season, she left for NASCAR.

Patrick competed full-time in NASCAR from the 2012 season to the 2017 season. In the 2012 season, she drove full-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series before driving full-time for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series from the 2013 season to the 2017 season.

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Toward the end of the 2017 Cup Series season, Patrick announced that she would not be returning to Stewart-Haas Racing in the 2018 season. Roughly two months later right before the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, she announced that she would not be driving full-time in the Cup Series in the 2018 season and that she would only be driving in the 2018 Daytona 500 and the 2018 Indy 500 before officially retiring from her career as a professional race car driver.

She ended up driving in the Daytona 500 for Premium Motorsports. She started the race in 28th place and finished in 35th after a wreck on the 102nd lap of the race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway tri-oval.

She ended up driving in the Indy 500 for Ed Carpenter Racing. She started the race in seventh place and finished in 30th after wrecking in turn two on lap 68.

Patrick’s Cup Series career came to an end after 191 starts. In those 191 starts, she recorded seven top 10 finishes and a career-high finish of sixth place at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the 2014 season. Her career-high finishes in the championship standings in five full-time seasons were 24th place results in the 2015 season and the 2016 season.

Patrick’s IndyCar career has now come to an end after 116 starts. In those 116 starts, she recorded 63 top 10 finishes, 20 top five finishes, seven podium finishes and one win in Japan in the 2008 season. Her career-high finish in the championship standings in seven full-time seasons was a fifth place result in the 2009 season.

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Do you believe Danica Patrick’s professional racing career was a success as whole? Should she have stayed in IndyCar after the 2011 season and never left for NASCAR, where she struggled, or was she right to leave IndyCar?