Danica Patrick: Top 10 Goals Before the End of the 2011 IndyCar Series Season

Danica Patrick's full-time Izod IndyCar Series career is almost over. 

It's been a delight to watch her race over the past seven seasons.

Patrick has broken many records and barriers as a female driver, including her special win in the 2008 season in Japan.

She has also brought so much attention to the series and made it much bigger now than it was in 2004, the year before she came to IndyCar.

There's still some goals that she and her No. 7 Go Daddy team would like to accomplish in the last two races, before she makes the move to NASCAR after the season-ending race in Las Vegas. 

10. Regain Respect from Her Peers and Fans

Danica started out as a huge idol and gained a ton of fans in her rookie year in 2005. 

She brought many new fans, including women, to a sport that used to be male-dominated.

Fast forward six years, and many of those fans and competitors that welcomed her with open arms are now her biggest critics.

Patrick has that personality to say what's on her mind no matter who it offends or throws under the bus.

From picking a fight with Dan Wheldon in Milwaukee to the famous "It's Not My Fault" on pole day in Indy, plus the most recent tirade blasting Brazilian drivers in NASCAR, she's gotten a bad rep.

Many fans now call her a huge baby and a whiner. 

Even former teammate and friend Tony Kanaan, who happens to be Brazilian, took offense to what she said about Brazilian drivers and blasted her on social media.

Patrick needs to leave on a high note because most likely she will be back to run at least the Indianapolis 500 in future years.

And as of now, most people and competitors are happy she's leaving.

9. Finish Strong for Go Daddy

Danica has had Go Daddy's backing for the past few seasons and needs to pay them back for that, and for following her to NASCAR.

Go Daddy announced they want to stay in IndyCar even though they're "taking their talents" to NASCAR.

The sponsor needs nothing more than Danica in Victory Lane in either or both of the last two races of the season.

How big would it be if she can win again, and this time have Go Daddy on the car?

Since Go Daddy is staying, she needs to put the car up front and in Victory Lane to keep both momentum and the brand high in IndyCar for the future.

8. End on a High Note for Andretti

Continuing along the "finishing strong for people" route, she needs to finish strong for team owner Michael Andretti.

Andretti has stayed by her and been loyal when she's been mediocre at best for him. 

Danica gave him a win, but the team is nothing like it was before she came.

Andretti's team was dominant in 2003-2007.  The team had two Indy 500 victories and two championships.

Really, if it wasn't for Patrick, Andretti wouldn't be able to have the funding to have four cars entered every weekend. 

Now that she's leaving, she owes him a win to keep momentum and build on something for the future.

If she continues her downward spiral in IndyCar, Andretti may be forced to close up shop on at least two of his cars.

7. Finish the Season Strong

Danica is already looking toward her NASCAR future.  She just wants to survive the last few races and move on.

Minus last season, she hasn't finished the final few races of the season particularly well.

In 2009, in the last two races in Japan and Homestead, she finished 6th and 19th respectively. 

In 2008, the last two races were Chicago and Australia, and she finished 10th and 18th respectively.

In 2007, the last two races were Detroit and Chicago.  In Detroit, she scored a second place finish, but followed that up with a dismal 11th in the next race in Chicago.

The two years before that, in 2005 and 2006, she raced for Rahal/Letterman and she only had one Top 10 finish in the last two races of those two years combined.

This season, she needs to show she can finish strong.

6. Prove You Belong

Most people claim Danica is just a marketing ploy and wouldn't be in the series if she wasn't a good-looking girl.

These last two races are her last chance to silence those doubters.

People have strong arguments that she's only won one race and can't do anything with top equipment. 

They say she whines too much and just loves attention, but doesn't care about actually winning.

They say that of the three full-time women in the series—Simona de Silvestro, Ana Beatriz and herself—she's the worst.

Two high-speed ovals are left, and she feels most comfortable racing on these circuits.

After all, both are on the NASCAR schedule.  Any seat time is great no matter what wheel you're behind.

5. Start Closer to the Front

She's struggled mightily this season in qualifying trim.

The lowest point came when she nearly missed the Indianapolis 500 back in May.

Out of the 16 races this season, Patrick has started 20th or worse nine times. 

However, one of those is an asterik due to the second race at Texas where the drivers drew for spots and she drew 20th.

She has only started in the top 15 four times this season.

The last two tracks are high speed and high downforce tracks.  If she wants any chance to compete in those races, she needs to start near the front.

It would be a big momentum shift if Patrick can regain her qualifying strength. 

She is still tied for the record in poles for a rookie with three in a season back in 2005, so it is possible.

4. To Finish First, You Must First Finish

The old saying "to finish first, you must first finish" is something Danica must have taken to heart.

She has the record for the most consecutive races finished running, currently at 49 races, dating back to the first race of the 2009 season at St. Pete. 

It's definitely a goal of hers to continue that streak to 51 races to end the season.

Danica is one of the best drivers in all of motorsports at taking care of equipment.  She's not hard on it and rarely wrecks.

Of her 114 career starts, she's only not finished in 11 of those races.

3. Finish in the Top 10 in the Final Points Standings

It's always a race team's goal at the start of the season to at least finish in the Top 10 in the final points standings.

Currently, Danica is knocking on the door.

She's finished in the Top 10 in points for the last five seasons. 

The only season she didn't end up in the Top 10 was her rookie year in 2005, when she finished 12th.

Danica's career-high points finish is 5th in 2009.

If she runs consistently up front in Kentucky and Vegas, she should have no problem acheiving this goal for the team.

2. Finish in the Top 5 at Kentucky and Las Vegas

Usually, Danica is strong on high-speed ovals.  Kentucky hasn't been one of her strong tracks, though.

She has only three Top 10 finishes at Kentucky out of her six tries, with zero Top 5s. 

Her best finish at the 1.5-mile oval is 8th in 2009.

The last race in Las Vegas will be new to everyone in the series, except Patrick.

She finished fourth there in the Nationwide Series this year and set a record for the highest-finishing female in a NASCAR event. 

Patrick has two career starts at the Vegas track that ends the Izod IndyCar Series season.

She has 20 career Top 5 finishes, but only one this year, which came in Milwaukee in June.

It would be a great goal of hers to get two more before the season's end.

1. Win, Win, Win

This is an obvious goal for anyone, but no one wants it more at the end of this year than Danica.

This is her last chance to prove that her illustrious career and her win in Japan weren't flukes.

As stated in a previous slide, she's taken a lot of criticism over the past few years.

The biggest criticism that people have, is that she's really never won anything.  People say she didn't deserve the win at Japan due to fuel strategy.

A win would finally silence her doubters and give her the satisfaction she's been looking for the past seven seasons. 

It would also garner huge ratings and a big boost for her brand.