Joey Logano, the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series runner-up, discussed the racing career of the recently retired Danica Patrick, who drove in both NASCAR and IndyCar.
Joey Logano, who drives full-time for Team Penske in the #22 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series, was recently asked 12 questions by motorsports writer Jeff Gluck. One of those questions, the 12th and final question, pertained to former NASCAR and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick.
Andretti Autosport IndyCar driver and 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi was interviewed last week by Gluck, and Gluck had him ask one question for the following week’s interviewee, which, as referenced above, was Logano.
Rossi’s question for Logano was: “What do you think about Danica?”
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Rossi only raced against Patrick in one IndyCar race, and that race was the Indianapolis 500, which took place not even two weeks ago. Rossi finished in fourth place after starting all the way back in 32nd, and Patrick finished in 30th after starting in seventh and crashing in turn two of the four-turn, 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana on lap 68 of the race’s 200 laps.
Rossi, who drives the #27 Honda full-time in the series, began driving full-time in IndyCar in the 2016 season, which was five years after Patrick last drove in the series full-time.
Patrick’s start in this year’s running of the Indy 500, which was her final IndyCar start and her final start as a professional race car driver, was her first start in the Indy 500 and in any IndyCar race since the 2011 season, and it drew lots of attention from around the racing world.
Logano, meanwhile, competed against Patrick for five full seasons in the Cup Series. Patrick drove for Stewart-Haas Racing full-time from the 2013 season through the 2017 season. She also drove in 10 Cup Series races for the team in an alliance with Tommy Baldwin Racing in the 2012 season and one race, the Daytona 500, for Premium Motorsports this season.
In total, she and Logano competed against one another in 191 Cup Series races, which is the number of Cup Series races in which Patrick drove in her Cup Series career, so Logano certainly gained more experience competing against her than Rossi did.
Here is what Logano had to say about Patrick, according to Jeff Gluck.
"“I think Danica is a pioneer in our sport from a women’s standpoint in the things that she was able to accomplish. I think what she brought to our sport as far as eyeballs that watched it, a lot of fans came from it, and I think the improvement and the hard work she put into it is admirable.Obviously, as a woman in our sport has a lot of challenges. I think she overcame a lot of them. Honestly, I think she earned a lot of respect in here that no one really cared if she was a boy or girl or whatever. I don’t think it really mattered at the end. So I look up to her for that, because I think there was a lot that comes with that.And I also kind of like how she’s smart enough to realize that racing is something that is sometimes here today and gone tomorrow, and she has put herself in position to invest into her future outside of motorsports. I don’t think all athletes do that, so that’s impressive to see. She’s got the wine thing, she’s got some clothing stuff. I think that’s admirable as well. So I think she’s done a lot. I think she should be proud of her career and proud of what the next steps are.”"
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Do you agree with Joey Logano’s response to Alexander Rossi’s question about Danica Patrick? Do you agree with his assessment of her racing career that he offered in his recent interview with Jeff Gluck?