The face of NASCAR in 2010
At a social gathering recently, someone asked me about the NASCAR driver who has dominated the news in the offseason.
“So how will Danica Patrick do this year?” the man asked.
I’m almost certain that this man, a longtime friend of the family, knows very little about NASCAR, and probably couldn’t tell Junior Johnson from Jimmie Johnson. His NASCAR knowledge comes from what he sees on the 11 p.m. local news sports segment each night. Patrick has made her mark in the news the last few weeks, first with her signing with JR Motorsports and then with her recent tests with the Automobile Racing Club of America at Daytona International Speedway.
As the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. So if a driver who has yet to appear in a NASCAR event is getting people to talk about the sport, more power to her.
And that will be one important measure of Patrick’s impact this season, the buzz she generates. Even if Patrick falls short in her quest for on-track success, plenty of fans - and the sports media - will be watching to see what happens. They’ll be talking about why she is, or isn’t, successful.
That sort of debate is good for NASCAR and especially its Nationwide Series, which certainly deserves the extra publicity.
In that regard, Patrick’s first season will be a success, even if she doesn’t earn a single top-10 on the track.
