So, Danica Patrick thinks she can leave the IndyCar Series, switch to NASCAR and become an instant sensation, racking up millions in sponsorship and endorsement opportunities and race off into the sunset.
Perhaps if she talked to fellow IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher, Patrick would hear a sarcastic: “Good luck with that.”
“To go and drive one of those cars, you can’t just jump in the Cup world,” Fisher said Sunday before starting her first IndyCar Series race of the season at Kansas Speedway. “It’s a completely different technique of driving and is very similar to sprints and midgets. What I was doing by running the West Series into the Busch Series and then the Sprint Cup Series was the right track. It’s unfortunate because the money is not there to grow someone and invest in a driver.
Click Here For More Danica Patrick Photos
That’s where Fisher advises: Be careful what you wish for.
“It’s a very tough world; it’s a ‘Good Old Boys’ world, a ‘Good Old Boys’ network,” Fisher said. “To be in that without any prior experience (in a car) will be extremely tough. Unless you are bringing in a pot load of money, I don’t think they are going to (give you a deal) right away.”
“It’s more of what you do risk if it doesn’t work out,” Barrett said. “It depends on what team you deal with. It’s always wise to run some just to get the experience in those cars. Nobody has made a real easy transition over there. Tony Stewart was able to do it in the late 1990s, but he ran Nationwide for a whole year-and-a-half before moving up to Cup. It’s a big playing field over there, but with the economy being so tough, if you are having a lot of success here and you are a big-time driver, I’d stay put.”
For now, Patrick is exploring the possibilities, but she may be better off being the proverbial big fish in a small pond than getting devoured by the sharks in NASCAR.
| 
|