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Patrick has always remained open-minded

By Michael Vega
Globe Staff / September 26, 2009

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Honestly, was there any doubt Danica Patrick would stay right where she was?

For the second time in her career, Patrick flirted with defecting from the IndyCar Series to drive on the NASCAR circuit only to stay put in her open-wheel car. In 2006, it was widely - and wildly - rumored Patrick was on her way out at Rahal Letterman Racing. Richard Childress invited her father, T.J., to attend a Sprint Cup race in Chicago, but it was nothing more than a leveraging tool as Patrick remained in the open-wheel series, signing with Andretti Green Racing in 2007.

Two years later, talk of Patrick’s defection - which would have been ruinous for the IndyCar Series - has resulted in the 27-year-old driver re-signing with Andretti Green Racing for three more years. Patrick’s dalliance with NASCAR, as possibly the third driver on Tony Stewart’s team, stirred as much skepticism as speculation last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Sylvania 300 pole winner Juan Pablo Montoya predicted if Patrick made the switch, she would likely encounter a jarring transition from the sleek and easily finessed open-wheel cars to the bigger and, often times, ill-handling stock cars.

“You can’t race people like you [do] open wheel,’’ said Montoya, a former Formula One driver and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, who took three years to make the transition to NASCAR.

Montoya predicted Patrick would get “dumped’’ if she ran somebody hard in NASCAR, where on-track respect is not easily earned. “I got dumped a lot of times,’’ said the hard-charging Colombian, who along with Stewart, Sam Hornish Jr. and, to an extent, Scott Speed, have made successful career moves from open-wheel racing to stock cars.

“You’ve got to understand: When you come from open wheel, you have a wing,’’ Montoya said. “So you stick that nose in and somebody turns and you get out of the gas because of the wing. You’ve got a bumper here.’’

In NASCAR, drivers aren’t shy about using their bumper to send a message.

That challenge might have caused Patrick to reconsider her career path. Then again, she has a strong desire to win the Indy 500. If Patrick achieves that lifelong dream, it would likely propel her to a new realm of stardom in the sport.

Stewart stirred the pot three weeks ago in Atlanta when he said Patrick was “excited about this and making this change,’’ adding that, “I can pretty much guarantee at some point she’s going to be over here.’’

However, Patrick seemed to hint a month ago that now might not be the time. She seemed amenable to the fact that owner Michael Andretti had assumed more of a leadership role on her team. With the season finale Oct. 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining, Patrick is poised to finish a career-high fifth in the standings. Asked last month about a switch to NASCAR, Patrick replied, “I think at the end of the day, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.’’

Given that, why should anyone be surprised she chose to stay put?

Johnson re-tires to pole
After starting 16th (and finishing fourth) in the first race of NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship last Sunday at NHMS, Jimmie Johnson improved his starting spot for tomorrow’s AAA 400 at Dover, Del., by winning the pole position. Johnson, who participated in a tire test Aug. 4-5 at Dover International Speedway, ran the same tire he recommended Goodyear bring to tomorrow’s race. It resulted in Johnson running a fast lap of 157.356 miles per hour, which edged Montoya’s qualifying lap of 156.699 m.p.h. Chase points leader Mark Martin, the winner of last week’s Sylvania 300, qualified 14th . . . Kyle Busch, who missed qualifying for the 12th and final Chase spot by eight points, earned 155 points and $149,523 for his fifth-place finish last week. After NASCAR officials found his left front to be too low in a postrace inspection, Busch and car owner Joe Gibbs were docked 25 championship driver and championship owner points, respectively, while crew chief Steve Addington was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31. Joe Gibbs Racing accepted the penalty and offered an explanation in a statement: “The situation was caused when the left front spring became dislodged. This resulted in the left front corner of the car to be lower and resulted in a change to the car’s handling which had to be compensated for during the race. Consequently, the car measured low during postrace inspection.’’

Keep on truckin’
Ron Hornaday Jr., the 51-year-old Camping World Truck Series points leader, won the third-quarter vote for Driver of the Year 2009 after stringing together five consecutive victories this season. “This is a very big honor,’’ said Hornaday, who beat IndyCar series driver Ryan Briscoe, 99 points to 82, marking the first time a Truck Series driver won the quarterly ballot of motorsports journalists. “It’s pretty cool to be the one chosen out of so many candidates.’’ . . . F1 Boston and the Boston Police Athletic League will team up Oct. 17 to host the first Boston PAL Grand Prix, a four-hour, high-speed karting event to benefit the PAL’s youth programs. Six-driver teams will compete head-to-head in 9-horsepower race karts on a closed-course circuit on Cambridge Street in front of City Hall Plaza. The Rodman Ride for Kids will match all donations by 15 percent. For team sponsorship and registration information, contact Rose Clayton of the Boston PAL at 617-635-5093.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com; material from personal interviews, various sanctioning bodies, track publicity departments, race teams and sponsors was used in this report.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.