A Gut Feeling Something’s up With Danica Patrick
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
I have what I fondly refer to as a “gut meter” in my stomach. No, it’s not a reference to the round mound of blubber that sits around my waist (which, by the way, since I believe in full disclosure, I’m working on getting rid of).
Rather, my gut meter is a hunch machine, and more often than not, it has about 98 to 99 percent accuracy.
That same gut meter has been in high gear the last couple of weeks. Something is up, something big, it’s telling me. It can’t tell me exactly what, but it’s promising big news in the near future – be that the next day, week or however long – but that news is coming, I can feel it.
Is it not a coincidence that my gut meter is going crazy and we’re also coming up on nearly one month since Danica Patrick was supposedly going to finally make the big announcement of which team she was going to race for in 2010 and beyond?
Wasn’t Patrick supposed to use the IRL finale at Homestead around Oct. 10 to disclose her future plans? Didn’t she even promise it herself for roughly a month beforehand – and then her self-professed deadline for an announcement came and went with nary a whimper.
And then, throw in the Danica mania of her possibly moonlighting in NASCAR next season, and what have you got?
Patrick has been waaaaay too quiet of late to not make things seem highly suspicious. Somewhere, somehow, she’s going to finally spill the beans on her plans for 2010 and beyond.
My guess, a very carefully orchestrated “surprise” announcement next week at Phoenix International Raceway, site of NASCAR’s second-to-last Sprint Cup race of the season.
The pieces of the puzzle seem logical: Patrick, a native of Illinois, has lived in the Phoenix area for the last few years. Her primary sponsor, GoDaddy.com, is headquartered only a few miles from her home. PIR is owned by NASCAR’s sister company, International Speedway Corporation.
And if Patrick wants to make the biggest splash possible – while at the same time deflecting attention away from Jimmie Johnson’s quest for a fourth consecutive Cup championship, which he by no coincidence can clinch at PIR next weekend – what better place to do so than that at that same PIR?
Patrick is not the type to bypass major media attention, particularly when it comes to making such a significant announcement as who she’ll race for next season, both in the IRL (most likely her current team, Andretti Green Racing), as well as whatever team she’ll race for next season in NASCAR (most likely a handful of both Camping World Trucks and Nationwide Series races).
There have also been reports over the last several weeks that she might make her NASCAR debut next Friday in the Trucks race at PIR, although that’s appearing less likely – unless her name suddenly finds itself onto the official entry list later this week. (But then, come to think of it, has anyone heard from or seen Patrick since Homestead last month? Could she be secretly testing somewhere, trying to get acclimated to a Truck? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?)
Patrick might try to make an announcement at NASCAR’s season finale at Homestead in a couple of weeks, but I’m willing to bet NASCAR wouldn’t want that to happen. Even though her coming to NASCAR would be huge news, do you think the sanctioning body would want it to happen at Homestead, given how it would take away from the significance of that weekend when the champions of the Trucks, Nationwide and Cup series are crowned in their respective season finales?
Sorry, but I just don’t see Patrick simply faxing out a press release sometime during December announcing her plans. No, she’ll want to milk such a significant revelation for all it’s worth, particularly if she can have a huge media throng on hand.
Well, if Johnson further extends his lead in the Sprint Cup points standings after this Sunday’s race in Texas, and can easily clinch the championship next week at Phoenix, you can make book that there’s going to be a huge media contingent on hand at PIR to record history when he officially locks up title No. 4.
If Patrick is the smart, savvy businesswoman that she supposedly is – in addition to being a good driver – she’d be foolish to miss out on putting herself into such a huge spotlight. She’d have her adopted hometown to support her, not to mention a huge TV audience on ABC and print and broadcast reporters from across the country all on hand to report the news. All she needs to do is show up – and the rest will take care of itself.
If by some rare chance my gut meter winds up being wrong, the only other place I could potentially see Patrick making her long-awaited announcement(s) and getting big media play is next month at the NASCAR Awards Week and Banquet in Las Vegas (which would be a good second choice in my mind).
But I still think Phoenix is going to be the right place at the right time for Patrick. Heck, I’ve already made my reservations for Phoenix. My gut meter told me to.
And I learned a long time ago, even if it may just wind up being nothing more than indigestion, to always listen to your gut.
