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That would be the uber-optimistic scenario. She's had 40 starts in the Nationwide Series and has 1 Top 5 and 4 Top 10s. She's led a grand total of 22 laps.
Austin Dillon has started 26 Nationwide races. He has 1 win, 10 Top 5s and 15 Top 10s. He's currently leading the points and has led 233 laps in his brief Nationwide career (which, for the record, is 76 more laps led than the sum of every NASCAR, ARCA, and IndyCar race Danica has started).
Danica may get good enough to contend for a win here and there a la a Morgan Shepherd or Joe Nemechek but championship contender? Not at this rate. She will win fewer than 5 races in her Sprint Cup career. I'd say 2, maybe 3 tops.
Tony Stewart didn't do squat in Nationwide either, but 3 Cup championships later..............
Then there is Jr, daddy 7x champ, raised with stock car racing, had a top notch Busch ride, won a couple of Busch titles, and hasn't done much of squat in cup.
Point being it can be difficult to determine who will perform how in what series when it comes to NASCAR
Tony Stewart didn't do squat in Nationwide either, but 3 Cup championships later..............
Then there is Jr, daddy 7x champ, raised with stock car racing, had a top notch Busch ride, won a couple of Busch titles, and hasn't done much of squat in cup.
Point being it can be difficult to determine who will perform how in what series when it comes to NASCAR
Danica has never been anything more than an overhyped, slightly-below-average driver. She doesn't tear up a lot of equipment, but she also doesn't compete for the win. She makes laps. She led 0.7% of the laps she ran in IndyCar and has led 0.3% of the laps she's run in the Nationwide Series. Those aren't typos. Less than 1%.
Her driving style has always been extremely conservative. She also hasn't shown a whole lot of ability to adapt to an ill-handling car. If it's not pitch-perfect she throws up her hands and says "sorry."
As for the comparisons to Tony Stewart, he wasn't a stud in the Busch Series but he came to NASCAR with a strong resume. He won in sprint cars and in his 24 IndyCar (IRL) starts he racked up 3 wins, 7 podiums, and one championship. By comparison, Danica notched 1 win and 7 podiums in 115 IndyCar starts.
People so desperately want Danica to be successful that they completely suspend reality. Every tiny little accomplishment she has is magnified to absurd levels. Anybody who doesn't fall at her feet is branded as a hater or jealous. I want her to be successful and win races but she hasn't shown me anything that makes me believe she'll ever be an average driver let alone a great one. Honestly, I think her lack of success and constant overexposure is actually hurting the cause for women in motorsports.
A common refrain is that she's "the best woman driver that XYZ has ever seen." That bar is set extremely low. IMNSHO, the only things that separate her from the Patty Moises and Shawna Robinsons of the world are better equipment and exponentially more marketing.
Danica has never been anything more than an overhyped, slightly-below-average driver. She doesn't tear up a lot of equipment, but she also doesn't compete for the win. She makes laps. She led 0.7% of the laps she ran in IndyCar and has led 0.3% of the laps she's run in the Nationwide Series. Those aren't typos. Less than 1%.
Her driving style has always been extremely conservative. She also hasn't shown a whole lot of ability to adapt to an ill-handling car. If it's not pitch-perfect she throws up her hands and says "sorry."
As for the comparisons to Tony Stewart, he wasn't a stud in the Busch Series but he came to NASCAR with a strong resume. He won in sprint cars and in his 24 IndyCar (IRL) starts he racked up 3 wins, 7 podiums, and one championship. By comparison, Danica notched 1 win and 7 podiums in 115 IndyCar starts.
People so desperately want Danica to be successful that they completely suspend reality. Every tiny little accomplishment she has is magnified to absurd levels. Anybody who doesn't fall at her feet is branded as a hater or jealous. I want her to be successful and win races but she hasn't shown me anything that makes me believe she'll ever be an average driver let alone a great one. Honestly, I think her lack of success and constant overexposure is actually hurting the cause for women in motorsports.
A common refrain is that she's "the best woman driver that XYZ has ever seen." That bar is set extremely low. IMNSHO, the only things that separate her from the Patty Moises and Shawna Robinsons of the world are better equipment and exponentially more marketing.
+1000 she's an average driver with above average marketing.. she has won ONE race since FORMULA FORD days and that was by fuel mileage.. Ill STILL give her credit for the win, but if she is such a good racer, where's her OTHER wins goin 10+ years back.??. She'll be LUCKY to win a RACE before her personality issues that pushed her out of open wheel end her stock car career as well... A Championship?? yeaahh riiigghhtt...
Tony Stewart didn't do squat in Nationwide either, but 3 Cup championships later..............
Then there is Jr, daddy 7x champ, raised with stock car racing, had a top notch Busch ride, won a couple of Busch titles, and hasn't done much of squat in cup.
Point being it can be difficult to determine who will perform how in what series when it comes to NASCAR
Your comparo is HORRIBLE..
Stewart and Nationwide??? ummm yeah.. he won the INdycar championship and Indy 500 FIRST, nevermind how many hundreds of sprint car races...
Jr.. again, planty of nationwide races, championships, late model wins before that.. quite a few cup races...
DP??? How many Indy races did she win?? barely one.. How many races before that? In Atlantic... in FF?? NONE... again.. your comparo sucks... jussayin...
Danica has improved since she first came into the Nationwide series, but she has definitely got a while before she is ready to compete full time in the Sprint Cup Series. Personally, I'd give her at least three more years in the Nationwide series.
Race incident to be honest. He got pushed into the grass on the braking point, not a lot to do. Amazing how far back these cars have to brake. Stock cars in road courses are really interesting!
Lookig at poatrick record this year compared to eve last she hneeds to stp it up. She has like what 7 wrecks in 8 reaces and results worse tha lst year.She really needs alot more experience even i nationwide racing from waht i have seen. If not her postion with sposors she would have been gone by now.
Honest assessment of Danica's 2013 Sprint Cup Season
I openly admit I'm not a huge Danica fan. I think she's extremely overhyped and when you remove her gender from the conversation her stats are very lackluster for someone drawing the kind of sponsorship dollars she is.
That being said, I honestly think she's going to struggle next year. She's clearly regressed from 2011 to 2012. Her qualifying average is up but her average finish and # of Top 5 and Top 10s are down considerably.
She still has not shown much ability to adapt to an ill-handling car. When the car isn't just right Danica drops like a rock. She is far too reliant on making laps and conserving fuel to be a threat for consistent Top 10 finishes, let alone wins.
Danica also lacks the innate killer instinct to go out and fight for a win at all costs. Her best bet for Top 10 finishes next year will be plate and fuel mileage tracks. One or two Top 10 finishes can't be ruled out; however, I don't see her winning any races or getting any Top 5 finishes, and I don't believe she'll be a threat to make The Chase. If I had to pick a number where I think she'll finish in the points, give me 22nd.
I think if Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. runs the full season he'll be the Rookie of the Year over Danica.
I personally would like to see Bob Parsons of GoDaddy take advantage of the growing Danica vs. Johanna comparisons and put them in identical equipment for 5-10 races. It'd draw attention to Johanna and help create a fair comparison between the two of them. Here's why it won't happen. Parsons knows that a lot of Danicamania is built on smoke and mirrors. If Danica gets consistently shown up by another female driver and struggles to respond to the competition, she'll no longer be the next best thing and her fanbase will abandon her in droves. At that point he's stuck with damaged goods because the Gloria Allreds of the world would smear him up one wall and down the other for dumping Danica.
Last edited by bluescreen73; 08-05-2012 at 07:46 PM..
I openly admit I'm not a huge Danica fan. I think she's extremely overhyped and when you remove her gender from the conversation her stats are very lackluster for someone drawing the kind of sponsorship dollars she is.
That being said, I honestly think she's going to struggle next year. She's clearly regressed from 2011 to 2012. Her qualifying average is up but her average finish and # of Top 5 and Top 10s are down considerably.
She still has not shown much ability to adapt to an ill-handling car. When the car isn't just right Danica drops like a rock. She is far too reliant on making laps and conserving fuel to be a threat for consistent Top 10 finishes, let alone wins.
Danica also lacks the innate killer instinct to go out and fight for a win at all costs. Her best bet for Top 10 finishes next year will be plate and fuel mileage tracks. One or two Top 10 finishes can't be ruled out; however, I don't see her winning any races or getting any Top 5 finishes, and I don't believe she'll be a threat to make The Chase. If I had to pick a number where I think she'll finish in the points, give me 22nd.
I think if Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. runs the full season he'll be the Rookie of the Year over Danica.
I personally would like to see Bob Parsons of GoDaddy take advantage of the growing Danica vs. Johanna comparisons and put them in identical equipment for 5-10 races. It'd draw attention to Johanna and help create a fair comparison between the two of them. Here's why it won't happen. Parsons knows that a lot of Danicamania is built on smoke and mirrors. If Danica gets consistently shown up by another female driver and struggles to respond to the competition, she'll no longer be the next best thing and her fanbase will abandon her in droves. At that point he's stuck with damaged goods because the Gloria Allreds of the world would smear him up one wall and down the other for dumping Danica.
Probably not as Jr. gets shown up week after week (though this year he is much more consistent), when he does make the chase it is basically a guest appearance, definitely hasn't demonstrated his worth in sponsor dollars by winning one race every couple of years, and yet HMS and his fans stand by him.
I also would betshe has at ealst anther year4 ebcause of her position.Its all about sponsors really.
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Honest assessment of Danica's 2013 Sprint Cup Season
