The row of cameras that showed up for Dance Patrick’s press conference along with the souvenirs featuring her name being sold in the stands suggests that NASCAR hasn’t quite gotten its fill of Danica mania yet.
“It’s been huge. It’s been overwhelming. It’s been exciting,” said NASCAR Sprint Series driver Kurt Busch. “I had someone ask, ‘Are you racing Saturday?’ I was like, ‘No, I’ve never thought about racing Nationwide.’ And they said, ‘Well, Danica is.’”
Fans will get their final shot at seeing Patrick in a stock car during Saturday’s Nationwide Series Sams Town 300 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After that, she will switch her focus to the Izod IndyCar Series until June.
Patrick’s next Nationwide Series event won’t be until the NASCAR circuit heads to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 26.
“I was telling the boys I’m kind of sad,” Patrick said. “I really like all of them and I like driving the cars. With the first race when I come back being in New Hampshire, I’m sure we’ll replicate that track; go somewhere similar.
“The more I can drive the car the better. I wouldn’t mind being tested all the time. There’s no end to how much learning you can do.”
After 35th and 31st place finishes in her first two Nationwide Series races, Patrick has started setting baby-step goals for herself, including a top-25 finish in Las Vegas this weekend. Las Vegas Sun
“I feel comfortable with everything I’ve done and had fun with it,” Patrick said Friday of posing for FHM, adding that she did not believe it helped her to get a full-time job racing in IndyCars two years later. “That’s just my style. I do things that are interesting and fun and show a little bit of my personality.”
Four-time champion Jimmie Johnson’s image isn’t the primary one being used to promote this weekend’s NASCAR races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Neither is Kyle Busch’s , even though the Las Vegan won the NASCAR Sprint Cup race a year ago.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Tony Stewart? Not much of a sign of either even though they’re America’s most popular drivers.
The face the speedway hoped would launch the sale of thousands of tickets belongs to Danica Patrick, the first woman to win an IndyCar race and the most popular pin-up in racing history.
“I could not believe all the attention. It’s just amazing,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after Patrick’s first race at Daytona International Speedway. He owns the JR Motorsports team that fields the No. 7 Chevrolet she drives.
“But it’s great for the sport. It’s good for our company.”
The sport’s female pioneers do not question Patrick’s driving talent or potential.
“No question she is a very capable driver, and she’ll do well in NASCAR just as she has in IndyCars,” said Guthrie, 72, who raced in three Indy 500s with a best finish of ninth in 1978.
“She has a better chance to win than any other woman that has come along because she’s the only one who has been in top-level equipment.”
Guthrie adds what hasn’t changed are how some fans disdain a woman in top-level racing.
In her book, “Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle,” she alludes to hateful comments and signs some fans displayed at her races. The former engineer said today’s sexist protests directed at Patrick have shifted to the Internet.
“The level of hostility on the blogs is astonishing. It’s like déjà vu all over again. The blogs demonstrate there are some peoples’ minds that will never change.” Las Vegas Review - Journal
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