Question: How do you feel after finishing up your first season balancing NASCAR and IndyCar?
Danica Patrick: I mean, I think all along we knew it was going to be a really challenging year. We knew it was going to be the hardest year of my career and it did turn out to be. A lot of it was just because it was humbling and there was a lot of not-so-high-up results and you have to find the good in those moments. But I learned a lot, I knew what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I’m better for it.
But I think from a scheduling standout, from an energy standpoint, from that being a really big difference, I think we were prepared. We hired a full-time assistant and those kind of things and got a really good group of people together, a good team of people that take care of that stuff, so we hit the ground running for this year. Everything was in order, but it was just a matter of digesting a 20th-place finish.
Question: What do you think is the biggest challenge you faced from moving from IndyCar to NASCAR or from juggling the two. Has it been scheduling, has it been getting comfortable with the car itself?
Danica Patrick: Getting comfortable with the car. Getting comfortable with how the races go. Getting comfortable with acknowledging top-20 as being OK for now. I didn’t really have a lot of expectation levels in the beginning because I really didn’t know what to expect. All of my preseason testing was really good, so I thought top-10 or something, but I never got one of those this year. I think I could have a couple of times, but you gotta finish the race and you can’t get taken out.
Once the first few races were done, I started to be able to have realistic expectation levels and goals and that also helped me to not get as down and mad, because when you come from running up front and doing well on the weekends, then go qualifying 37th or something like that and it seems shockingly bad and you just have to deal with it and move on and cut myself some slack, as I’ve been told to.
Question: Do you have any plans for the offseason? Anything you’re looking forward to doing?
Danica Patrick: Going on vacation. Go-Daddy Super Bowl commercials. Go-Daddy Christmas party. And then Christmas, which I haven’t even thought about yet. So it’s a really short offseason compared to every year, but it’ll be even more valuable.
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