Danica Patrick: What If GoDaddy Girl Weren't 'Attractive'

Danica Patrick had the spotlight on her all last week leading up to the Daytona 500. Without a doubt, she had the most spotlight any driver has ever experienced.

Patrick is a polarizing figure in Motorsports. She has one of the biggest fanbases in NASCAR already and has media following her every step.

Why is so much attention put on someone who has only won once in 115 IndyCar Racing League starts?

Maybe a better question is: Why does she have a top ride in the Sprint Cup Series?

Patrick has talent behind the wheel, there is no question about that. She won plenty of races and championships on her way up. However, once she reached the top level she didn't continue her success. But even though there was no further success, her fame kept rising.

Her fame mostly comes from being a Go Daddy girl for the popular website godaddy.com. The commercials she does for the site are famous for her teasing young men. She uses her body in the commercial and it has sex appeal.

There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, more power to her.

The problem is that team owners have interest in her because she can bring in sponsors and draw attention to the team because she is an attractive female. Sponsors are a big part of the sport now, but why haven't sponsors gone to other future drivers besides Patrick?

There are plenty of drivers who want to make it to the top series, including other females such as Johanna Long. Other drivers such as Ricky Stenthouse, the defending Nationwide Series champion, don't have a ride for the upcoming Sprint Cup season.

Team owner Jack Roush will put Stenthouse in a car when he can. However, Tony Stewart, who owns half of Stewart-Haas Racing, hired Patrick to run 10 races for him this year.

Why wouldn't Stewart hire Stenthouse instead of Patrick? Stenthouse clearly has the better resume. Patrick is said to have potential, but so does Stenthouse.

So it comes down to one word: money.

Patrick can bring in the money. She has a sponsor behind her. That is over half the battle drivers need if they want to get a good ride at the top level.

So why does Patrick have a good sponsor with limited success?

She has a fanbase.

Why does she have a fanbase if fans love winners and she has had limited success?

The majority of fans are male and are drawn to Patrick. Most fans think of her as attractive, and that starts their following her for the most part. After that, they want her to succeed, obviously, but it started with the attraction.

Now the question becomes, what if she weren't deemed by America to be attractive?

Then she would be David Ragan.

Ragan has 182 starts in his Sprint Cup career with only one win. His statistics are similar to Patrick's. However, Ragan found himself looking for a ride going into the 2012 season. He drove for Roush-Fenway Racing for the past five years, but was released this year because Roush could not find a sponsor for Ragan's car.

Ragan worked hard to get the vacated seat at Penske Racing, but could not close the deal because he did not have any sponsors following him.

Ragan finally found a ride with Front Row Motorsports, an underfunded team that is still trying to find its first win.

We will see if Patrick can have success this year.

Hopefully she does, since she will be a good story for NASCAR, and women in general. Let's just make sure we focus on her ability.