Danica Should Thank Briscoe - Seriously

Qualifier: I admit I am not a Danica Patrick fan, having had my fill of the Danica hype given her marginal performance when so many other talented drivers in sub-par teams get virtually no recognition for their achievements. Regardless, and in all seriousness, Briscoe's incidence with Patrick is one of the better things that happened for her on Sunday. Had she not been taken out (regardless of which side of that argument one takes on that issue) she would have struggled on for not even a top ten finish (if you don't buy my opinion on that, hold the thought and just replace what I said with less than a top 5 finish - she certainly was not on track to do that). Instead she is now the victim and I would venture to say most casual racing fans either now or in the near future will only remember that Patrick didn't win because she was unjustly taken out by someone else. Look at the televised and press attention she received by storming down the pit lane. Contrast that with her pulling into the pits at the conclusion of the race - back around 10th place - and when they shoved the microphone in her face all she would have done is spewed on about the terrible car the team gave her, and the other poor drivers. While the press would have eaten that up it would only tarnish her image. Now, due to Briscoe, she is a hapless but feisty victim who had the 500 - or a good chance at it- taken away from her versus being a disingenuous driver and poor loser. She definitely needs to thank Ryan Briscoe.

It's weird logic, but I guess I can see the point.

But, there is a thing called points. 7th pays more of those than 22nd does. The thing is, Danica's fans would've been glad if she had finished 7th, simply because you could see how bad her car was handling. She outdrove the car, in my opinion. Marco was running 100% throttle in most corners in his final charge; Danica could only run 10% because of her understeer. Then, that would kill her down the straights.

some of what you said is true, and she's smart enough to know that by creating tv she was helping to publicize the story that "she got taken out". On the other hand, you weren't watching the same race I was if you honestly think she would have finished as low as 10th. Her car was finally running well by that last pit (7th at the time) and would likely have finished ahead of Carpenter, Mutoh, RHR, etc. she just had the faster car. So I would say that she probably missed out on a top 5 or 6. You really weren't watching the race if you think she was going to finish any lower than that. At no point was she running behind Mutoh and he finished 7th or 8th.