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Danica should make the move to NASCAR, now
by Jeff Owens, NASCAR Scene, Special to FOXSports.com
Danica Patrick proved again Sunday that she is not just a pretty face who can sell sponsorships and star in commercials.
She can also drive an Indy car.
Patrick finished third in the Indy 500, her best finish on her sport's grandest stage.
Patrick has won an IndyCar Series race, and she has proven that she can contend in one of the two biggest auto races in the country.
Now she should take her pretty face, her powerful marketing machine and her considerable talent to NASCAR.
Now is the time for her to make the leap to NASCAR, the nation's most popular form of racing.
Why?
Because she has never been hotter. Not sexy hot — though she is that, too — but hot from a marketing and exposure standpoint.
How many race car drivers this side of Dale Earnhardt Jr. get as much media exposure and commercial time as Patrick?
How many commercials did she appear in during Sunday's Indy 500? It seemed like at least one during every commercial break.
No other IndyCar driver, including three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, gets a fraction of Patrick's exposure. She got as much commercial time during the Indy 500 as Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and other stock-car drivers get during NASCAR races.
NASCAR Scene and Sporting News magazine report that only Earnhardt Jr. and four-time champion Jeff Gordon have better name recognition according to the Davie Brown Index, which measures celebrity appeal and awareness for brand managers and marketers.
Patrick is a hot commodity off the track, and now is the time for her to take advantage of her tremendous appeal. It is also time for NASCAR and one of its top teams to step up and give her the opportunity to see if she can drive a stock car and become a star at the top of the American racing world.
Patrick has flirted with the move before, but now is the time to make it. Her contract with Andretti Green Racing is up after this season, and she has said she would make the move if given the right opportunity.
The right opportunity, of course, would have to be with one of NASCAR's top teams, presumably Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing or Richard Childress Racing.
Each of NASCAR's Big Four has, or has had, some sort of connection to Patrick and could make a deal work.
Gibbs could expand to a fourth Cup team while Hendrick, Roush and Childress would each have to find an open seat in the Cup series. Each would be wise to consider it, considering the sponsorship dollars Patrick would certainly attract.
Given her looks and popularity — not to mention the widespread appeal she has already established — she would likely attract one of the largest sponsorship packages in the sport and would become an instant star, regardless of her success on the track.
She would likely have to start by running a full season in the Nationwide Series, something she says she would reluctantly do as long as it comes with the promise of a Cup ride.
Can she do it? Can she make a smooth transition from open-wheel racing to stock cars and succeed in heavier, full-bodied machines? And can she adapt to close-quarters racing where contact is often the name of the game?
It is doubtful. The odds would be stacked heavily against her, and recent history is not on her side.
Juan Pablo Montoya, a star in both Champ Car racing and Formula One, has had only moderate success in NASCAR.
Sam Hornish Jr., a three-time IndyCar champion, struggled in his first few years in NASCAR and is only just now starting to show some promise in stock cars.
Others, including Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier, also struggled but never got a fair shake.
The only driver in recent years to successfully make the transition is Tony Stewart, and he had one big advantage — he started his NASCAR Cup career with a top team at Gibbs.
With two championships and 33 career wins, Stewart has proved that he is even better in stock cars than he was in open-wheel machines. But he is the exception rather than the rule.
Patrick has just one IndyCar victory and has had only moderate success, so her transition likely would be even more difficult.
Based on what we have seen from Montoya, Hornish and the rest, she will likely fail.
But that doesn't mean she shouldn't give it a try.
The incredible success both she and NASCAR will enjoy on the marketing front will be well worth it.
By switching to NASCAR, Patrick will attract even more sponsors and generate even more exposure than she is currently getting. Win or lose, she would become an even bigger star in the sports world.
That could have a huge impact on the sport, not to mention the organization she lands with. If she runs a full season in the Nationwide Series, her mere presence would give fans a reason to watch NASCAR's second-tier series.
She could run the full Nationwide schedule and garner more exposure than most Cup drivers. And with the backing of a top team, she would have a good shot at succeeding at that level.
Once she makes it to Cup, she will rival the sport's top drivers in terms of media exposure and marketing prowess. She may also help NASCAR build its base among female fans.
She will do that even if she does not succeed on the track. If she does succeed, she will be one of the biggest stars in not only NASCAR, but in the sports world.
If she fails and runs only a year or two, then at least she will have tried, and the sport will be better off for it.
And if it doesn't work out, there no doubt will be a place for her to return to Indy cars, where she will likely be an even better driver because of the experience of driving stock cars.
Though she may face a long, tough road, moving to NASCAR is a no-lose proposition for Patrick.
She needs to make the move, and she needs to make it now.
by Jeff Owens, NASCAR Scene, Special to FOXSports.com
Danica Patrick proved again Sunday that she is not just a pretty face who can sell sponsorships and star in commercials.
She can also drive an Indy car.
Patrick finished third in the Indy 500, her best finish on her sport's grandest stage.
Patrick has won an IndyCar Series race, and she has proven that she can contend in one of the two biggest auto races in the country.
Now she should take her pretty face, her powerful marketing machine and her considerable talent to NASCAR.
Now is the time for her to make the leap to NASCAR, the nation's most popular form of racing.
Why?
Because she has never been hotter. Not sexy hot — though she is that, too — but hot from a marketing and exposure standpoint.
How many race car drivers this side of Dale Earnhardt Jr. get as much media exposure and commercial time as Patrick?
How many commercials did she appear in during Sunday's Indy 500? It seemed like at least one during every commercial break.
No other IndyCar driver, including three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, gets a fraction of Patrick's exposure. She got as much commercial time during the Indy 500 as Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and other stock-car drivers get during NASCAR races.
NASCAR Scene and Sporting News magazine report that only Earnhardt Jr. and four-time champion Jeff Gordon have better name recognition according to the Davie Brown Index, which measures celebrity appeal and awareness for brand managers and marketers.
Patrick is a hot commodity off the track, and now is the time for her to take advantage of her tremendous appeal. It is also time for NASCAR and one of its top teams to step up and give her the opportunity to see if she can drive a stock car and become a star at the top of the American racing world.
Patrick has flirted with the move before, but now is the time to make it. Her contract with Andretti Green Racing is up after this season, and she has said she would make the move if given the right opportunity.
The right opportunity, of course, would have to be with one of NASCAR's top teams, presumably Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing or Richard Childress Racing.
Each of NASCAR's Big Four has, or has had, some sort of connection to Patrick and could make a deal work.
Gibbs could expand to a fourth Cup team while Hendrick, Roush and Childress would each have to find an open seat in the Cup series. Each would be wise to consider it, considering the sponsorship dollars Patrick would certainly attract.
Given her looks and popularity — not to mention the widespread appeal she has already established — she would likely attract one of the largest sponsorship packages in the sport and would become an instant star, regardless of her success on the track.
She would likely have to start by running a full season in the Nationwide Series, something she says she would reluctantly do as long as it comes with the promise of a Cup ride.
Can she do it? Can she make a smooth transition from open-wheel racing to stock cars and succeed in heavier, full-bodied machines? And can she adapt to close-quarters racing where contact is often the name of the game?
It is doubtful. The odds would be stacked heavily against her, and recent history is not on her side.
Juan Pablo Montoya, a star in both Champ Car racing and Formula One, has had only moderate success in NASCAR.
Sam Hornish Jr., a three-time IndyCar champion, struggled in his first few years in NASCAR and is only just now starting to show some promise in stock cars.
Others, including Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier, also struggled but never got a fair shake.
The only driver in recent years to successfully make the transition is Tony Stewart, and he had one big advantage — he started his NASCAR Cup career with a top team at Gibbs.
With two championships and 33 career wins, Stewart has proved that he is even better in stock cars than he was in open-wheel machines. But he is the exception rather than the rule.
Patrick has just one IndyCar victory and has had only moderate success, so her transition likely would be even more difficult.
Based on what we have seen from Montoya, Hornish and the rest, she will likely fail.
But that doesn't mean she shouldn't give it a try.
The incredible success both she and NASCAR will enjoy on the marketing front will be well worth it.
By switching to NASCAR, Patrick will attract even more sponsors and generate even more exposure than she is currently getting. Win or lose, she would become an even bigger star in the sports world.
That could have a huge impact on the sport, not to mention the organization she lands with. If she runs a full season in the Nationwide Series, her mere presence would give fans a reason to watch NASCAR's second-tier series.
She could run the full Nationwide schedule and garner more exposure than most Cup drivers. And with the backing of a top team, she would have a good shot at succeeding at that level.
Once she makes it to Cup, she will rival the sport's top drivers in terms of media exposure and marketing prowess. She may also help NASCAR build its base among female fans.
She will do that even if she does not succeed on the track. If she does succeed, she will be one of the biggest stars in not only NASCAR, but in the sports world.
If she fails and runs only a year or two, then at least she will have tried, and the sport will be better off for it.
And if it doesn't work out, there no doubt will be a place for her to return to Indy cars, where she will likely be an even better driver because of the experience of driving stock cars.
Though she may face a long, tough road, moving to NASCAR is a no-lose proposition for Patrick.
She needs to make the move, and she needs to make it now.
