Debunking myths - Danica's Indycar vs Nascar experiment

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Permalink Reply by Damon on February 26, 2010 at 1:35pm

By the time the two-day session concluded, though, Patrick's eyebrows were furrowed and she had a scowl on her face as she stormed through the paddock. Patrick was 18th out of 21 drivers in the test session with a fast lap of 115.786 miles per hour, compared to the fastest driver in the test, Will Power's 118.502 mph.

A more telling sign of Patrick's troubles lay in the fact that she was also smoked by rookie driver Simona de Silvestro, who ran a fast lap of 116.072 mph.


Nevermind that Danica was about three tenths quicker than Simona on Wednesday, let's rag on her because she was two tenths slower on Thursday and say she got smoked, yet what happened to all-world Simona the day before?


1. Maybe jumping back and forth between two totally different race cars is a bigger challenge than she ever expected.

Patrick understood that her transition to NASCAR would be difficult but she could always look forward to the car that suits her best -- the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. But maybe all that time in the JR Motorsports Chevrolet has thrown her off her rhythm.


History lesson for Bruce

2009 Open test at Barber (16 drivers) - 1. Power 69.4557, 7. Marco Andretti 70.0908 (fastest AGR car), 10. Hideki Mutoh 70.3574 (3rd fastest AGR car), 15. Danica 70.8411 (slowest AGR car)

Speed differentials- Power to Danica -1.3854 seconds, Marco to Danica -0.7503 seconds, Hideki to Danica -0.4837 seconds

2009 IRL Points standings among AGR drivers- 5. Danica, 6. Kanaan, 8.Marco, 11. Mutoh


Next time they hand out points/trophies for testing will be the first time, it means very little when we get to the real season.


3. Danica is playing both sides of the fence.

When Patrick speaks to the NASCAR media, she subtly downplays IndyCar, saying the car has so much downforce that she can hug the white line while a stock car is a driving challenge. But when she returns to IndyCar, she has a much different explanation of a stock car and it's not exactly flattering.

"It doesn't do much very well because it is just a stock car," Patrick said. "It is very simple. It is 1970s technology and it is just old."

Prior to the test, Patrick referred to her car as "snappy."

"Being in an IndyCar is my comfort zone right now," she said. "I know what it needs to feel like. I know the car and the technical side and all the changes that are needed to make it better. Dropping a rear track bar in NASCAR, I don't know what that means. There is a level of comfort and confidence in IndyCar that I know what the car is supposed to feel like and I know the changes to get it there.

"There is a comfort level to come back to an IndyCar and read the setup sheet because at least I know what I'm talking about. It's such a foreign land for me over there (in NASCAR)."

Geez Bruce, having been in one type of car for five years, then transforming to another that's completely different than what you're used to will probably give a driver that opinion, I'm sure Tony Stewart probably felt the same way when he was running in the Busch series and IRL at the same time between 1996-1998.

By the way, what's the deal with these writers who always like to point out when Danica's upset at having a bad day on the track? Do they get paid extra when they mention it? It's like other drivers never have bad days and show frustration, but Danica does and gets criticized for it? Just mind-boggling.

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