Danica Patrick could be the hero NASCAR needs
In case you haven’t noticed, NASCAR needs a new hero.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is out of the cockpit temporarily and Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are about to be out for good.
Compared with the past two seasons, this year’s edition of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup can be politely described as tepid: No big controversies, no major fights, no name-calling and a whole lot more League of Gentlemen than Men Behaving Badly.
And the competition for eyeballs right now is fierce: The nation is captivated and fascinated with the Cubs vs. the Indians in the World Series and horrified and repulsed by the ugliest and most contentious presidential election in history.
College Football and the NFL are just hitting the meat of their respective schedules, with basketball and hockey getting started, too.
That’s a lot of noise to cut through.
Yeah, there are some familiar names still alive in the title hunt: If Jimmie Johnson won his seventh championship that would be a huge story. Kevin Harvick, Kurt and Kyle Busch, and Matt Kenseth are all going for their second titles, while Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano are looking for their first crowns.
Let me throw out another name for someone who could instantly put NASCAR back on Page 1: Danica Patrick.
Don’t laugh.
I’m totally serious about that.
Yes, Patrick hasn’t done much in terms of on-track finishes so far.
In 150 career Sprint Cup starts, Patrick has never finished higher than sixth and has only six top-10 finishes, which equates to exactly one top 10 every 25 races.
Yeah, those are profoundly underwhelming numbers.
But there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Patrick — a little light, anyway. Three weeks ago, Patrick finished a season’s best 11th at Charlotte.
Friday at Martinsville Speedway, Patrick was fifth fastest in the day’s only round of Cup practice in advance of Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500. She was a very competitive eighth-best in 10 consecutive lap average speed.
Those are both impressive results for most anyone, let alone a driver who’s struggled to consistently run up front in her career.
This could — could — be a breakthrough weekend for Patrick.
Martinsville is a good track for Patrick. She has a best finish of seventh here, matching her second-best Cup finish ever. And she has more top-20 finishes here than at any other track.
Realistically, it would be a stretch to expect Patrick to win on Sunday.
But if she could mix it up with the leaders and finish in the top five, it would be the biggest story of the Chase so far, and the kind of storyline NASCAR badly needs right now.
It would get people talking about NASCAR around the water cooler on Monday morning, and that’s a great thing.
Besides, it would be a hell of a lot more fun to talk about than the election.
