Rick Hendrick pleased with way Danica Patrick has approached her NASCAR debut
NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick says he has been pleased with way Danica Patrick has approached her NASCAR debut in the Nationwide series. // LaDon George, NASCAR Illustrated
LAS VEGAS – While Danica Patrick has found her initial foray into stock cars a little bit of a rough go, Rick Hendrick says in some ways, it’s been easy.
It’s been easy for those who have worked with the 27-year-old IndyCar Series star. What’s impressed Hendrick, who owns part of JR Motorsports in addition to Hendrick Motorsports, is the way Patrick approached her NASCAR debut and the first three races of her 13-race NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule.
“She’s a pro at handling herself,” Hendrick said Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “And she’s learning. She doesn’t try to profess to be any further along than she is. … It’s so refreshing.
“When you get someone who has done real good in one division and won big races in open-wheel, they come in and they [often] don’t want to act like that they don’t know everything and they feel like they’ve got to be [running] up front.”
In her first three NASCAR races, Patrick crashed at Daytona to finish 35th, struggled in running the entire race at Auto Club Speedway in California on her way to a 31st-place finish and then crashed at Las Vegas on her way to a 36th-place finish. The only woman to win an IndyCar Series race, Patrick will return to that series full time and not race again in NASCAR until June.
“I’m excited – I hate to see her take this break,” Hendrick said. “I wish she could stay. It’s excited a lot of the fans. And it’s really amazing how the drivers have pitched in, like Kevin [Harvick] did yesterday.
“It’s good, and I look forward to getting her back [in a car].”
Hendrick was on the team radio for Patrick’s race at Daytona, and he said he and Patrick text often about her NASCAR experiences, which has included extensive media coverage.
“It’s awful tough to not have practice to throw her in that mix with all the media and everything,” Hendrick said. “I think she has done a super job. Out here, she really was doing well.
“Watching her at California, which is a track that guys run for years and never figure out, she did a heck of a job. … I’ve been just very impressed with the person to the way she handles herself, the way she’s handled the whole experience of getting started and talking about having fun and learning … it’s just a very big breath of fresh air.”
