Danica Patrick Racing in NASCAR K & N Series

[DanicaFan]

Danica Patrick will race in the NASCAR K & N Pro Series East at Dover International Speedway in the Sunoco 150 on September 24th. She will be driving the #83 JR Motorsports entry. Race takes the green flag at 4:45pm Eastern on Friday, the 24th. This gives her some preparation for the Nationwide race at Dover on Saturday.

She of course will be in the #7 GoDaddy.com car for JR Motorsports on Saturday, September 25th for the Nationwide Series Dover 200. This race is at 3pm Eastern.

Go Danica!

[beachgirl]

Old news, my friend. We all knew this quite a long time ago. By the way, you never let me know if you wanted me to get the name of the billboard company for you.

[beachgirl]

So this means she'll have a whole extra day to get into the wall at the Monster Mile.

Oh, and to head off a possible excuse ahead of time, jet lag from Japan is not an acceptable excuse for performance

[Easy Drifter]

Danica racing does not equate.
Danica driving does.

[harvick#1]

since when is this news :rolleyes:

[DanicaFan]

It's good news. I bet she does very well. Look for a top 5 from her.

[Easy Drifter]

She might do fairly well. She is in a top car in a 4th rate series. Mind you there are a lot of very hungry real racers at that level who will not hesitate to trade a little paint.
She no longer seems 'hungry' and usually will not race hard.

[MD24]

http://hometracks.nascar.com/node/5374

[harvick#1]

It's good news. I bet she does very well. Look for a top 5 from her.

and you are wrong again

[beachbum]

and you are wrong againBut if a few more cars took themselves out, she had a chance. It was certainly a race of attrition and some of the 18 cars still running at the end had a variety of incidents.

The K&N Series gives lap by lap recap, which was interesting. She even lead 3 laps - by pitting out of sequence. For most of the race, she ran about where she qualified, just outside the top 10. But as cars had issues, she moved up. Of course a couple cars that started behind her passed her and it doesn't look like she passed anyone.

Sound familiar to anyone?

Some of the equipment in that series is hardly at the level of Nationwide, and many of the drivers are either very young development drivers, or old grizzled veterans running good, but not state of the art cars that probably wouldn't be competitive in Nationwide. But 6th looks good on paper and she didn't clobber the wall, so it should have been good experience. But if she found 150 laps to be long, the 200 for Nationwide will seem like a eternity.

[Anubis]

Assuming it wasn't just a PR stunt, it's probably the right way to do things. I'd much rather see her putting in the legwork to get decent seat and track time than just turn up in a series then flounce about complaining about everything. I'm sure some people will be making a lot of the result, but given the series is several rungs down and she's (allegedly) a top flight driver, you'd expect her to do well.

[beachbum]

Assuming it wasn't just a PR stunt, it's probably the right way to do things. I'd much rather see her putting in the legwork to get decent seat and track time than just turn up in a series then flounce about complaining about everything. I'm sure some people will be making a lot of the result, but given the series is several rungs down and she's (allegedly) a top flight driver, you'd expect her to do well.Strictly speaking, she didn't do that well. She kinda held her own and left attrition do the rest. While there are a couple top flight development drivers in the series with current equipment from JGR and MWR, the overall quality of the cars is not nearly as good as Nationwide. I suspect she had the only Hendrick engine in the race. When Sarah Fisher ran the equivalent series in the west, the field was a bit deeper and she had an older car that was definitely not top shelf. Yet she often raced in the top ten and had good results. She gave the POS she had a good ride and got a lot out of it, unlike Danica who just rides around in the pack.

I agree that Danica should move down a series and run something like the K&N series, but she seems to think she is good enough to jump right into Sprint Cup with a top team.

IMHO, this whole experiment is just a PR stunt that keeps backfiring as she hasn't shown any ability to drive stock cars the way they need to be driven, or any ability to race wheel to wheel with tough competitors.

[NickFalzone]

Strictly speaking, she didn't do that well. She kinda held her own and left attrition do the rest. While there are a couple top flight development drivers in the series with current equipment from JGR and MWR, the overall quality of the cars is not nearly as good as Nationwide. I suspect she had the only Hendrick engine in the race. When Sarah Fisher ran the equivalent series in the west, the field was a bit deeper and she had an older car that was definitely not top shelf. Yet she often raced in the top ten and had good results. She gave the POS she had a good ride and got a lot out of it, unlike Danica who just rides around in the pack.

I agree that Danica should move down a series and run something like the K&N series, but she seems to think she is good enough to jump right into Sprint Cup with a top team.

IMHO, this whole experiment is just a PR stunt that keeps backfiring as she hasn't shown any ability to drive stock cars the way they need to be driven, or any ability to race wheel to wheel with tough competitors.

And yet, she keeps collecting big paychecks. Probably in the top-3 payscale of every series she's racing in. So who's the real idiot?

[beachbum]

And yet, she keeps collecting big paychecks. Probably in the top-3 payscale of every series she's racing in. So who's the real idiot?Bob Parsons?

[harvick#1]

wow, she starts 41st for todays race in a car that finished in the top 5 in the spring, oh yeah, lots of talent :rolleyes: getting outrun by all the start and parks once again

[beachgirl]

18 kaps in and she's already been lapped.

Now 66 laps in, almost 3 laps down, and "I'm getting tired".

[harvick#1]

yeah, she only moved all those spots because 7 drivers are start and parks :rolleyes:

yet, the Danica update is so crucial for ESPN

[beachgirl]

She's done. That's what happens when you like the car so tight it puts too much stress on the right front. Oh well, she can recoup from being tired now.

At this rate, her repair bills will rival KV's.

[TURN3]

Danica talking in her interview, you know where they go to the 35th place finisher. If there is one thing that she has improved on through this season, IMG has done a remarkable job of educating her on English. Just a few months ago, every word from her mouth was ummmmm, well ya know. Obvious difference, which tells me her handlers have a.) watch these forums, and b.) worked over time to help somebody with a GED to overcome ignorance.

As for the race, she still doesn't get it. She actually thinks she does well at times. Well enought that they'll get the GoDaddy car to the front by the end of the year. She noted that "everybody is watching", so clearly she understands that we know that isn't ever going to happen. Going back to Fontana, "I'm used to running at the front". OMG! She's only ran better than mid-pack in 1 Indycar race. Much like Kevin Harvick, I think its time somebody gave her a right cross to the jaw to shut her up.

[Jag_Warrior]

18 kaps in and she's already been lapped.

Now 66 laps in, almost 3 laps down, and "I'm getting tired".

Please tell me that she didn't really say that. I was told by a poster (a Danica fanatic) on another board that Danica is "as well conditioned as any top F1 driver." So I know a few laps in a junior league stock car race didn't get her winded... did it? :s pinhead:

[Easy Drifter]

I note she was complaining of being tired and that even yesterday's race seemed long.
Almost at the end of the season and she clearly is not in shape, at least for taxi cabs.
Maybe too much extra ciricular activities rather than working out which almost all do.
I know she has claimed to do so but!!!!!!!

[TURN3]

Last thing I intend to say about this hack for the weekend...do a twitter search @DanicaPatrick and look at some of the absolute idiots that are commenting with her name. It is absolutely stupid. Things like "Great job getting your car back out and finishing the race Danica" and "Demand Tony Eury Sr. as your crew chief, Eury Jr. has no talent". Yeah, these are the morons paying the money that allows her to be in front of our eyes. Never though I'd think Capitalism sucks, poor example I guess.

[beachgirl]

Please tell me that she didn't really say that. I was told by a poster (a Danica fanatic) on another board that Danica is "as well conditioned as any top F1 driver." So I know a few laps in a junior league stock car race didn't get her winded... did it? :s pinhead:

Yes, she really did say that. They went to her ever-present in-car cam and the radio between her and Tony Eury, Jr., and that was the direct quote. Live and in person on TV.

The Danica fanatic on another board was probably DF!

[wbcobrar]

The post Nationwide race interview was priceless. First of all the 4th frickin' driver they stick a camera on is 94 LAPS DOWN! Then her mouth opens. "we'll get this go dady car to the front this year..." What? And"It's just so hard with everyone watching...." Is she inferring that her sponsor should buy all the tickets,and burn them ,and then pay so the race is not televised ? :laugh: :rotflmao: :laugh: That may just be the best chance she has of "proving her ability to the world"

[beachbum]

The post Nationwide race interview was priceless. First of all the 4th frickin' driver they stick a camera on is 94 LAPS DOWN! Then her mouth opens. "we'll get this go dady car to the front this year..." What? And"It's just so hard with everyone watching...." Is she inferring that her sponsor should buy all the tickets,and burn them ,and then pay so the race is not televised ? :laugh: :rotflmao: :laugh: That may just be the best chance she has of "proving her ability to the world"Actually, the post race was sad. They choose to interview a driver who qualified slowest, ran at the very back, got laps down early, and then abused the tires until one blew. Eventually, they talked to a couple top 10 finishers who raced hard all day and backed up talk with results.

Not only did Danica's comments show she is living in a even bigger fantasy that some of her rabid fans, it shows how little ESPN respects racing. The on-track action has become a sideshow to promotion and hype.

As a race fan, it is painful to hear the stories of Bayne, Sorenson, Allgaier, Tayler Malsam, and Brian Scott. They may all be out of rides because of sponsorship. These drivers have all run at the front regularly and should be the future of NASCAR. They are young, very good on track, very good off track with the media, and have a lot of upside potential.

Instead fans are insulted with the media falling all over Danica, who has made a mockery of idea that racing performance means anything in racing anymore. She has NOT shown any potential to even be competitive at this level, let alone run up front. She has become the poster child for "poser", quire literally. She is an embarrassment to racing.

ESPN should be ashamed of itself.

[TURN3]

Perfectly said BB

[Jag_Warrior]

The post Nationwide race interview was priceless. First of all the 4th frickin' driver they stick a camera on is 94 LAPS DOWN! Then her mouth opens. "we'll get this go dady car to the front this year..." What? And"It's just so hard with everyone watching...." Is she inferring that her sponsor should buy all the tickets,and burn them ,and then pay so the race is not televised ? :laugh: :rotflmao: :laugh: That may just be the best chance she has of "proving her ability to the world"

The GoDaddy car has been to the front this year... it's just that The Danica wasn't driving it. And as long as they have this over-hyped "racing celebrity" in that seat, the only time she'll see the front of the field is when they're lapping her. She didn't have a clue when she first got in that car at the beginning of the year and she doesn't have a clue now. I can't see that anything has changed.

But, with that said, sooner or later, if she (or GoDaddy ;) ) stays with this experiment long enough, her typical strategy of cruising around up top in her "tight as a drum" car might pay off with a Top 15-20. With enough attrition after a big one, ol' Danica could get a REAL Lucky Dog finish. And if that happens, even though it'll involve 90% luck and only 10% racecraft, the ESPN/Danicamania friendly media will go nuts and this foolishness will play on for even longer.

I do feel sorry for the longtime NASCAR fans who aren't into celebrity worship though. But since I don't think there's a chance in hell that this hack will ever make it to Sprint Cup, at least they can watch that series without it being polluted by People Magazine reporters.

[Jag_Warrior]

Yes, she really did say that. They went to her ever-present in-car cam and the radio between her and Tony Eury, Jr., and that was the direct quote. Live and in person on TV.

The Danica fanatic on another board was probably DF!

I don't know what to say. That is just amazing. "I'm tired." What next? "My foot hurts. My seat is too hard. This helmet is too small for my great big head! This porridge is too cold!" :rolleyes:

No, I don't think that poster was DF. That was some complete racing neophyte who told me that Danica posted competitive times during her F1 test with Honda a couple of years ago. I guess I need to do a better job of keeping up with F1 stories on the intraweb, cause I didn't hear anything about that test. Darn near as good as the blogger who claims that Bernie Ecclestone has made an offer to Danica for her to join F1 in 2012. He's yet to reply to my request for details on that. Hyperbole, fantasy and half-truths have made Danica the "elite racer" that she is, so I guess nothing about that one really surprises me anymore.

[NickFalzone]

I just find it kind of funny how, in the post race interviews, she almost always says "WE need to this better" or "WE need to work on this". Only exception is when she runs well, and then it's usually "I got the car working for me on the corners" or "I stayed out of trouble out there".

99% of the post-race NASCAR interviews are how about how her and her team need to figure some stuff out to get the car to finish higher. Lol...

[beachgirl]

I'm thinking of sending Tony Eury, Jr. his very own personal Danica set-up crystal ball. I wonder if he's ever had any conversations with her engineer at Andretti?

Oh - the alleged Honda F1 test? Nonexistent. Never happened.

[Easy Drifter]

Which engineer of many?

[Sparky1329]

ESPN should be ashamed of itself.

Danica should be ashamed of herself.

[banshee74]

You know, I , you know, get a kick out of counting how many times, you know, she says "you know" in every interview! She is now dragging down the quality of two racing series with this phony sideshow!

"It's loose, then good for a while, then tight" DUH!!! Maybe we can bring Robert Duvall out of retirement as a crew chief and teach her some race car craft....you would think, you know, (just kidding) that after all these years of racing, SOME understanding of what makes the car go round would have sunken in!!!!

I wonder if she realizes that it was her line on the track, and abuse of the right front that caused the car to meet the wall????

Formula One........well, you know, .....

[Easy Drifter]

I worked with a female driver who had ice raced a mini (region Champion) hard circuit raced a mini a bit and a season in the stock Honda BF Goodrich series. All front wheel drive.
By her second race in a Formula car she could sensibly discuss what the car was doing and understand my thoughts on correcting problems.
Yes I had close to 20 years by then as a driver, mechanic and crew chief, on sports racers and formula cars, but she understood things immediately. I listen to Princess Lapped a Lot and she does not have a clue after over 20 years in race cars and she has had top notch engineers for most of her time in race cars.

[harvick#1]

I listen to Princess Lapped a Lot and she does not have a clue after over 20 years in race cars and she has had top notch engineers for most of her time in race cars.

yeah she does, she wants more downforce in the car so she can drive flat out but not be fast by any means, The nose has to stick because we all know she cant drive a loose racecar to save her life

[Easy Drifter]

Actually it is the opposite. The back has to stick not the front. She wants understeer and cannot handle a car with the back sliding.
That is why she did in the right front quickly at Dover.

[beachgirl]

She wants everything to stick, so the car doesn't move around. I find it fascinating when they go to her in-car cams, in either series, and she's just sawing at the wheel the entire time she's in the car. That's just another reason why she burns tires up faster than most everyone else. Most of the other drivers are just smooth as glass, in all the different races. It's no wonder she gets tired with all the sawing and jerkiness - she does all that unnecessary work, and for so little "reward".

I would love to see her try to drive Kyle Busch's car, or Jimmie Johnson's when it's really hung out there. Or Kasey Kahne's the other week, when even Kyle Busch though for sure he'd wall it because he was so loose. Then she'd know what loose really is.

[beachbum]

I worked with a female driver who had ice raced a mini (region Champion) hard circuit raced a mini a bit and a season in the stock Honda BF Goodrich series. All front wheel drive.
By her second race in a Formula car she could sensibly discuss what the car was doing and understand my thoughts on correcting problems.
Yes I had close to 20 years by then as a driver, mechanic and crew chief, on sports racers and formula cars, but she understood things immediately. I listen to Princess Lapped a Lot and she does not have a clue after over 20 years in race cars and she has had top notch engineers for most of her time in race cars.Not all racers have a "feel" for a vehicle. I was involved in professional motorcycle racing some years ago, and one championship winner in his early years was a lot like Danica in that he had often had little clue about what the machine was doing. At one event, the team kept telling him they were putting on a new rear tire for every practice, while they never changed it until it was completely worn out. He was giving feedback about the differences between each "tire". He never knew it was the same one every time. Yet another pro racer (female incidentally) could tell when there was a 1/2 psi tire pressure difference and one click on the shock.

However, unlike Danica, the champion understood the subtleties of racing, picking lines, and passing people. After a few years, he taught himself the engineering part and became a very good tester and very good at setup. He went on to more championships and is still racing cars and doing well. After 10 years, Danica is still a "stab and steer" driver.

Funny, I was just reading some articles about her from her rookie season in Indy cars in 2005. As Yogi said, it was "deja vue all over again". She wanted the back of the car "stuck", qualified well and then often raced backwards, and relied on others for setup. Her quotes are as clueless today as they were then. Even critics were complaining in 2005 that ESPN was jamming Danica down our throats with regular updates like "Danica is up to 15th!".

In 5 years, all she seems to have learned is how to "market yourself to success". On track, instead of trying to race, she just runs around, playing it safe, and collecting points, money, and clueless fans. But NASCAR fans aren't that forgiving. They want to see racers - something she is not. Even journalists like Danica cheerleader Steve Ballard aren't forgiving. He recently wrote "She's no longer a novelty in IndyCar. In NASCAR, that's all she is." So true.

[Easy Drifter]

Beachbum your second paragraph is the key. He taught himself set up etc.
She has been racing open wheel cars since she was 16 and has not learned a thing about set up or real driving skills. Most people would at least start to learn in FF.
Every driver I worked with learned what effect changes would have and some suggested changes, including the female.
My most difficult driver was probably Bruce Jensen. Very fast and smooth but tended to adapt to whatever the car was doing. You had to pull info out of him to improve the car most of the time but he could analyze its handling if forced to think about it.

[Jag_Warrior]

You know, I , you know, get a kick out of counting how many times, you know, she says "you know" in every interview! She is now dragging down the quality of two racing series with this phony sideshow!

"It's loose, then good for a while, then tight" DUH!!! Maybe we can bring Robert Duvall out of retirement as a crew chief and teach her some race car craft....you would think, you know, (just kidding) that after all these years of racing, SOME understanding of what makes the car go round would have sunken in!!!!

I wonder if she realizes that it was her line on the track, and abuse of the right front that caused the car to meet the wall????

Formula One........well, you know, .....

Well, you know... :D

Danica seems to be racking up some notable quotes this season. Maybe someone (Easy Drifter? :up :) can compile them for us in an article at some point. So far, off the top of my head, we have "It's not my fault!", "Well, you know...", "We were just too loose most of the day.", "So... that's like a technique?" and now, my new personal favorite:
"I'm tired." :rolleyes:

[Easy Drifter]

Unless something really newsworthy happens I do intend to write another article on Princess Lapped a Lot.
I said it all last time. I will comment in the forums though, where I do not have to be as circumspect about what I say. ;)

[beachgirl]

Well, you know... :D

Danica seems to be racking up some notable quotes this season. Maybe someone (Easy Drifter? :up :) can compile them for us in an article at some point. So far, off the top of my head, we have "It's not my fault!", "Well, you know...", "We were just too loose most of the day.", "So... that's like a technique?" and now, my new personal favorite:
"I'm tired." :rolleyes:

In her big interview before Dover, she said that the accidents in Nationwide weren't her fault, either. AAAArrghhhhhhh.

[beachbum]

Danica quotes (you can't make this stuff up)

After the 100 lap K&N series race at Dover.

"There was a heck of a lot of laps"

I wonder how she would handle the 600 at Charlotte.

Same race, talking about Sprint Cup drivers who run Nationwide the same weekend

"I don't know how they do both series and keep their heads on straight,"

Um, ya know, um, it might be because they are race drivers?

Also from Dover

"I'm still learning how this car drives."

Um, ya know, it has been um, what 7 races? A hint - turn left

Finally

"I learned about closing rates and I learned about how to set people up here, and I learned about just the timing of everything, which is really important with these cars."

Wow, such insight.

[Easy Drifter]

'Can they do that?' After Morgan Shephard accidently spun her. Remember this was after everyone was told to 'Go at it boys'.

[Mark in Oshawa]

It is never Danica's fault...YALL better remember THAT....just ask her.

wondrous. thanks for the nice post.