Danica Patrick won’t return to Stewart-Haas in 2018

Yes I understand she ran Xfinity with JRM. However once she made the jump to SHR she didn't get any experience in a lower level car while struggling to deal with the complexity of a Gen6 car. A couple plate races for Turner Scott.

Not many of these other up and coming Cup rookies decided to dodge the Xfinity Series. I'm confused where bringing her along there was this thought that maybe she should have kept running some of those races?
 
This topic should have been discussed on this thread in the first place but I was made aware today that Danica Patrick almost won the 2005 Indy 500.
 
AuzGrams said:
Yes I understand she ran Xfinity with JRM. However once she made the jump to SHR she didn't get any experience in a lower level car while struggling to deal with the complexity of a Gen6 car. A couple plate races for Turner Scott.

Not many of these other up and coming Cup rookies decided to dodge the Xfinity Series. I'm confused where bringing her along there was this thought that maybe she should have kept running some of those races?
Click to expand...
Now you are making some sense , I am not sure running the Xfinity Series in 2013 would of helped her all that much with the Gen6 car though, I could be wrong.
 
KyBuownsyourbrain said:
She drove for JR Motorsports, using HMS equipment.
Click to expand...

Not entirely. They had support, but she left the year before they became a part of HMS as part owners. 2010-2012 they were still on their own, just had the help, but no upper management taking over until 2013. She was there when the falling out with the Eurys happened before JRM became a part of HMS.

Skoalbandit33 said:
This topic should have been discussed on this thread in the first place but I was made aware today that Danica Patrick almost won the 2005 Indy 500.
Click to expand...

She did. She ran one hell of a race that day. I'll have to go back and watch that race sometime. She should have pushed it as far as she could. Even at the end she still had some left in the tank when they showed it afterwards. However, she's said herself she would never look back on it feeling as though it slipped away because Dan won a trophy then and then he won it again years later and she felt that was how it was supposed to happen because now both of his sons have a trophy. Damn that was a good race.

TBH her run in the 2013 Daytona 500 was pretty damn good too. She didn't have the experience to know when to go there at the end and if she'd have blocked Junior on the final laps she'd probably have ended the race on her roof, but she ran a good race that day too.
 
Danica should have had another year in the Xfinity Series before stepping up to the Cup level. She had some great runs. However, the stats don't reflect how well she ran in that series. She should have had more top-fives and top-tens, perhaps even a win or two. One particular race that aggravates me to this day was one held at Road America (I think?). Jacques Villeneuve, being the madman behind the wheel that he always has been, just purely took her out on the last lap while she was running 3rd or 4th. She ended up finishing around 25th, if I recall correctly. It made me upset, because she was having a good day, about to score a top five, and this road course ringer just decided to take her out - and he was a jerk about it afterwards. There was another road course race that she was actually leading. Unfortunately, it did not end with her leading. Of all things to befall her that day, someone decided to throw a shoe out on the track, and she was the first one to come up on it... and she struck it, ending her day. Danica Patrick is by no means even one of the top 30 stock car drivers of this decade, but she could have achieved more. It is a shame that her career will not be looked upon as well as it could be due to the wrecks and the bad luck that she seemed to have. I respect her tremendously for her good qualities, such as what she has done for motorsports.
 
mskid90 said:
Not entirely. They had support, but she left the year before they became a part of HMS as part owners. 2010-2012 they were still on their own, just had the help, but no upper management taking over until 2013. She was there when the falling out with the Eurys happened before JRM became a part of HMS.
Click to expand...

JR Motorsports merged with HMS in 2008.

Management, no, but engineering, chassis and engines.
 
Truex_rox said:
Danica should have had another year in the Xfinity Series before stepping up to the Cup level. She had some great runs. However, the stats don't reflect how well she ran in that series. She should have had more top-fives and top-tens, perhaps even a win or two. One particular race that aggravates me to this day was one held at Road America (I think?). Jacques Villeneuve, being the madman behind the wheel that he always has been, just purely took her out on the last lap while she was running 3rd or 4th. She ended up finishing around 25th, if I recall correctly. It made me upset, because she was having a good day, about to score a top five, and this road course ringer just decided to take her out - and he was a jerk about it afterwards. There was another road course race that she was actually leading. Unfortunately, it did not end with her leading. Of all things to befall her that day, someone decided to throw a shoe out on the track, and she was the first one to come up on it... and she struck it, ending her day. Danica Patrick is by no means even one of the top 30 stock car drivers of this decade, but she could have achieved more. It is a shame that her career will not be looked upon as well as it could be due to the wrecks and the bad luck that she seemed to have. I respect her tremendously for her good qualities, such as what she has done for motorsports.
Click to expand...
DONT REMIND ME ABOUT SHOE GATE :mad:
 
I want Danica to have a ride next season, ideally a quality ride, but it's not looking promising at this point. She IS a race car driver, qualified to run NASCAR and Indy Car. She has a good sized fan following that we need for this sport. Despite her temper she brings some spark to the series that I'd like to see continue.
 
Conover said:
I want Danica to have a ride next season, ideally a quality ride, but it's not looking promising at this point. She IS a race car driver, qualified to run NASCAR and Indy Car. She has a good sized fan following that we need for this sport. Despite her temper she brings some spark to the series that I'd like to see continue.
Click to expand...
Cup drivers have stepped down to Xfinty when no quality cup rides were available. Hard to figure while she would be opposed and there is a lot that can be accomplished and learned.
 
aunty dive said:
They're all purchased from HMS chassis, including the cars Harvick drove in his championship season. Rather like Blaney's cars are purchased from Penske and Truex's cars are purchased from Gibbs.

In this day and age, what difference does it make?
Click to expand...
The discussion was about SHR being a top notch team. I don't think they are but I give credit
to the #4 car for running up front. One car doing good does not make the organization a top contender. Some point to Tony winning a championship and I answered that what he won in was all HMS including the CC. Excluding the #4 car, the organization itself IMO a top team.
So Danica could have done as well or maybe better with a different organization. again IMO

Charlie Spencer said:
From that perspective, there are no elite, top tier, championship-caliber teams, haven't been for the last several seasons, and won't be for the foreseeable future. How about making the final eight repeatedly? Does that pass your smell test?

I like the lady, but she's averaged mid-pack in everything she's sat in since she moved up to IndyCar. Every owner she's had put her in inferior equipment, I guess.
Click to expand...
I am not advocating that Danica herself is a top driver, far from it. Some say she had the best equipment and could do nothing with it. I was stating that SHR was NOT an elite team and she possible could have done as well or better with a different team. IMO she would have done better in a Wood Bros. car. It is only my Opinion.

Formerjackman said:
I fully agree with YOUR assessment of SHR. Yes, they got some help from Hendrick, but for the most part, at least after Rodney Childers got there, they took that stuff and got far more out of it than Hendrick did. That alone speaks for their ability in my opinion.
Click to expand...
How can you say they did better with HMS cars when in fact HMS was winning championships and them cars went to Tony himself? Yes Tony won a championship but that wasn't because of SHR.
Nice to see you give the credit to Rodney because without him SHR would be doing nothing.

StandOnIt said:
If I sniffed enough magic dust I could say they have been giving Joey slower cars. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I think Nascar put Joey where he is now. If you look at his career, he could out drive the JGR cup drivers in the Xfinity series when he had the twisted sister cars. When he came to cup (to soon)
he was forced to drive Tony's cars ( which even Tony didn't do well in during the summer). He gets to Penske and he starts running well again and is a contender. That is until Nascar stepped in and took away what ever the Fords had that helped them run up front.
I don't know what would help Joey run good again. I have a feeling this low down force
could make him a mid pack driver. By that I mean 15 to 25th place driver.

Greg said:
Cup drivers have stepped down to Xfinty when no quality cup rides were available. Hard to figure while she would be opposed and there is a lot that can be accomplished and learned.
Click to expand...
Like Matt, she has the money and doesn't need to work for the B series.
Kyle is the only driver I know that thinks kicking a$$ in the B and C series is an achievement.
 
Team Penske said:
Like Matt, she has the money and doesn't need to work for the B series.
Kyle is the only driver I know that thinks kicking a$$ in the B and C series is an achievement.
Click to expand...

It would be an achievement for her to run near the front in the xfinty series.
She isn't comparable to past champions such Kyle Busch of Matt Kenseth. This would be more needed development, as well an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to win.
And wining an xfinty race would be more of an accomplishment than her few Cup accomplishment.
 
Last edited:
The upside for DP to drop down a series is to go down and win some races. It could be spun into a story of her finally running for a good team with good personnel. The downside is the more likely scenario of her not running competitively and further damaging her status as a Nascar driver and doing it all for chump change.
 
Team Penske said:
How can you say they did better with HMS cars when in fact HMS was winning championships and them cars went to Tony himself? Yes Tony won a championship but that wasn't because of SHR.
Nice to see you give the credit to Rodney because without him SHR would be doing nothing.
Click to expand...

Regardless of what HMS gave Tony, HE won the championship and they DIDN'T. HMS surely had more cars that were the equal to what they gave Tony, if not in fact the latest greatest cars that SHOULD be better. Same goes with the 4 car. From the moment Kevin and Rodney got to SHR, they week in and week out seemed to get more performance out of the equipment than what HMS did with it. I feel that some of the SHR employees, and not just the ones that came from Hendrick just figured some things out that the HMS guys didn't. I think the Ford move probably threw SHR more of a curve than they anticipated, and the Fords seem to be somewhat off right now, but make no mistake, that is a GOOD team. They have money, they have resources, and now they even have an F1 team to transfer concepts from. It still wouldn't shock me one bit if Harvick found a way to win the title this year, and if he does, you can't give HMS credit for that.
 
Formerjackman said:
Regardless of what HMS gave Tony, HE won the championship and they DIDN'T. HMS surely had more cars that were the equal to what they gave Tony, if not in fact the latest greatest cars that SHOULD be better. Same goes with the 4 car. From the moment Kevin and Rodney got to SHR, they week in and week out seemed to get more performance out of the equipment than what HMS did with it. I feel that some of the SHR employees, and not just the ones that came from Hendrick just figured some things out that the HMS guys didn't. I think the Ford move probably threw SHR more of a curve than they anticipated, and the Fords seem to be somewhat off right now, but make no mistake, that is a GOOD team. They have money, they have resources, and now they even have an F1 team to transfer concepts from. It still wouldn't shock me one bit if Harvick found a way to win the title this year, and if he does, you can't give HMS credit for that.
Click to expand...
your wasting your time IMO. I don't correct him hardly anymore. :D
 
On the the unofficial Danica thread (Silly Season) there is some talk about her joining RFR and other various scenarios. It was reported that she could not obtain enough sponsorship in order to buy a ride with the 77 so do you think she could cobble enough sponsorship together to buy a ride with RFR or another team?
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
On the the unofficial Danica thread (Silly Season) there is some talk about her joining RFR and other various scenarios. It was reported that she could not obtain enough sponsorship in order to buy a ride with the 77 so do you think she could cobble enough sponsorship together to buy a ride with RFR or another team?
Click to expand...
No to RFR. Yes to another team, but I doubt she can raise enough to get with one that meets her stated requirement that it be competitive.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
No to RFR. Yes to another team, but I doubt she can raise enough to get with one that meets her stated requirement that it be competitive.
Click to expand...

I thought she had said she would only go to a top tier team and that would disqualify RFR and RCR, IMO. HMS and JGR are full and Penske is adding another team already so the only place left in my estimation would be CGR and there has been no word of them adding a team. At this point I don't think the 42 car has the needed sponsorship in hand so they have work to do themselves.

DanicaFreak said:
Maybe not the breakdown, but through her off her game
Click to expand...

If a NASCAR driver runs over debris like a shoe, water bottle or brake ducting and it throws them off their game they are in the wrong profession. IDK how on earth you can come up with stuff like that as not only is it ludicrous it is a complete insult to Danica. Sheesh!!!!!!!
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
If a NASCAR driver runs over debris like a shoe, water bottle or brake ducting and it throws them off their game they are in the wrong profession. IDK how on earth you can come up with stuff like that as not only is it ludicrous it is a complete insult to Danica. Sheesh!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
LOL....... I recall someone hitting a seagull at Daytona once....... It's a wonder PETA didn't sue Nascar and the driver!!!! Was it Earnhardt?
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
I thought she had said she would only go to a top tier team and that would disqualify RFR and RCR, ....
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was giving RFR the benefit of the doubt. There's also the question of if RFR would want the issues that come with managing a couple of drivers in a romantic relationship.

'Couple'. Get it? See what I did there? :)
 
DanicaFreak said:
Maybe not the breakdown, but through her off her game
Click to expand...
I agree it was an awful event, and no driver should have to deal with that kind of crap.
I hope the creep that threw the shoe was prosecuted on whatever legal grounds they could use.
 
Greg said:
I agree it was an awful event, and no driver should have to deal with that kind of crap.
I hope the creep that threw the shoe was prosecuted on whatever legal grounds they could use.
Click to expand...

They probably should have thrown the red flag in order to allow Ms. Patrick to gather herself and get back on her game. Everytime I think I have heard the most peculiar excuse someone always comes along and tops it.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
On the the unofficial Danica thread (Silly Season) there is some talk about her joining RFR and other various scenarios. It was reported that she could not obtain enough sponsorship in order to buy a ride with the 77 so do you think she could cobble enough sponsorship together to buy a ride with RFR or another team?
Click to expand...

I think RFR is one of the only teams that would be in a position to throw together a team at the last minute and have a purpose behind it (Reed to cup in a year or so) and it not just be a dead-end when she's gone. I don't think they'd give their relationship a second thought. Danica and Ricky have both proven that while they're together, they're both incredibly competitive but more importantly I think they push each other harder than anyone on the track. Ricky's won twice (on plate tracks yes, but still, she's good at plate tracks herself) and run top-15 during most races. Trevor's also had some strong runs.

I'd like to see Danica come to RFR with Billy Scott and let them unload their SHR Ford notes onto guys like Brian Pattie (who Billy worked with at MWR) and Fennig and Kelley. Those guys may be able to move leaps and bounds with new info being brought in. They haven't hired from the outside in quite some time.

Also, Danica said she had to have a chance to win and run competitively. She never said it had to be a "top team" (we just assume that by the previous statement). I think if she gave RCR any thought at all, RFR would be a pretty equal level team. I think she'd try to slide in there before making a third team at JTG. Not sure where else she could "find" a ride, really.
 
In the "shoegate" race, Patrick mentioned something about her steering and the announcers decided that she needed to be coddled by her crew chief. That simple, really.
 
mskid90 said:
Not entirely. They had support, but she left the year before they became a part of HMS as part owners. 2010-2012 they were still on their own, just had the help, but no upper management taking over until 2013. She was there when the falling out with the Eurys happened before JRM became a part of HMS.



She did. She ran one hell of a race that day. I'll have to go back and watch that race sometime. She should have pushed it as far as she could. Even at the end she still had some left in the tank when they showed it afterwards. However, she's said herself she would never look back on it feeling as though it slipped away because Dan won a trophy then and then he won it again years later and she felt that was how it was supposed to happen because now both of his sons have a trophy. Damn that was a good race.

TBH her run in the 2013 Daytona 500 was pretty damn good too. She didn't have the experience to know when to go there at the end and if she'd have blocked Junior on the final laps she'd probably have ended the race on her roof, but she ran a good race that day too.
Click to expand...

They ran single file for 90% of the Daytona 500. The last two laps when they started racing, she lost two spots. There is SIGNIFICANT context to her 2013 500 run
 
Truex_rox said:
Danica should have had another year in the Xfinity Series before stepping up to the Cup level.
Click to expand...


She should have stayed there until she out grew it talent wise instead of marketing ability IMO. But stuffing 8 mil a year in her pocket or more would be stupid to ignore. That is probably a record that will never be surpassed by a win less driver in Nascar.
 
StandOnIt said:
She should have stayed there until she out grew it talent wise instead of marketing ability IMO. But stuffing 8 mil a year in her pocket or more would be stupid to ignore. That is probably a record that will never be surpassed by a win less driver in Nascar.
Click to expand...

The way things are heading an 8 million dollar salary for a multiple winner and champion may be a thing of the past. At least it is for Matt Kenseth.
 
StandOnIt said:
She should have stayed there until she out grew it talent wise instead of marketing ability IMO. But stuffing 8 mil a year in her pocket or more would be stupid to ignore. That is probably a record that will never be surpassed by a win less driver in Nascar.
Click to expand...
:eek2:Tell us how you really feel.:lol2:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom