Helio Castroneves is back in his race car, Mark Martin is back in Victory Lane and Danica Patrick is back in the news (did she ever really leave? ).
Helio scored the most important victory of his career, one that greatly surpassed his two Indianapolis 500 championships, when he beat a federal tax rap in Miami. That happens about as often as a race car driver winning a reality show dancing competition, which, Whaddya know, he did.
As for Martin, his Sprint Cup victory at Phoenix, showed that the old bantam rooster still has some fight and that perhaps anyone who sold him short heading into this season—yours truly included—had their head, well, never mind.
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Speaking of attention, a torrent will be directed toward Danica, who is in the final year of her IndyCar Series contract with Andretti Green Racing. Speculation is already rife on whether she will stay in IndyCars or make the jump to NASCAR, where untold marketing opportunities will abound given the series’ dominant position in the racing hierarchy.
Ask Dario Franchitti or Jacques Villeneuve or Patrick Carpentier, open wheel aces all, who didn’t cut it in NASCAR or Sam Hornish Jr. or Scott Speed who continue to struggle in Sprint Cup. It’s a completely different universe.
That being said, nothing against any of these guys, but they aren’t Danica when it comes to Q ratings. After all, how many times have they soft-porned in a swimsuit issue or made more than vaguely suggestive commercials hawking obviously unsexy products such as anti-freeze and Internet home pages?
If a NASCAR opportunity arises, Danica should take full advantage of it. The sport could use a shot in the arm and a kick in the pants.
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