Patrick begins full-time NASCAR career
If you’re a fan of the Poltergeist movie franchise, you’re probably familiar with the infamous lines “They’re heeeerrrree” and they’re bbbaaaacccckk.” Replace the “they’re” with “she’s” in either of those quotes, and they apply to Danica Patrick in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Patrick’s back, as in she returns to the Nationwide Series this weekend for the series’ O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday. She’s here, as in she may now be considered a full-time competitor in the series. With the IndyCar season coming to a close, Patrick is now a bona-fide full-time NNS competitor.
Saturday’s race at Texas will mark Patrick’s 10th Nationwide start of the season. So far, her 2011 campaign has produced much improved results in comparison to her first part-time season in the series, 2010. She has a top-five and three top-10s in her nine 2011 NNS races to date.
So far this year, Patrick has an average finish just outside the top-15 at 16.1. Her average finish a year ago? 28.0.
Patrick last climbed into the No. 7 JR Motorsports entry at Kansas Speedway in early October and produced a 15th-place finish.
A lot of eyes are, undoubtedly, on Patrick as she’s now able to focus her racing attention solely within the NASCAR world. She seems to be one of those drivers that fans either love or love to hate. The 2012 season will definitely be a test as to whether or not the media darling will live up to her hype, as she won’t be going back and forth between to vastly different types and styles of racing.
Will she succeed? Will she fall flat on her face? Who knows for sure? That should all be answered more clearly 2012. After all, she’s already planning a partial Sprint Cup schedule next year, with a full-time jump to that circuit expected for 2013.
With Sprint Cup plans already in place, Patrick is already committed to a somewhat fast track to the top of the NASCAR ranks. While 2012 will be the tell-tale season, a three-race preview of that may be seen Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway and on ESPN2.
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