Daytona Nationwide 2012: Crash Shows Pressure Is Getting to Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick revealed a lot when she said she was nervous holding the poll for today's Nationwide race at Daytona, and the results may speak for themselves. Patrick crashed heading into turn three on Saturday.

Maybe it was not the pressure of being in the major spotlight in a major race, but the results did speak for themselves, somewhat. She was supposed to at least contend high on the leaderboard, and the results were that she did not finish.

Patrick, the first woman to win a Nationwide series poll since Shawna Robinson in 2004, wrecked on the final lap of the qualifying race for the Daytona 500 on Thursday. A day later, she won the prime position for Saturday's Nationwide race, and today she crashed once again, ending her day at Daytona.

However, the pressure she said felt heading into Saturday about being in the top spot should worry some.

"When you sit on the pole, you're the fastest car, so if you don't win the race, then I just wasted the fastest car," she said. "So, yes, it adds a lot of pressure and I now feel nervous. Thanks a lot, pole position. You've made me nervous already, but it's a good problem to have and I don't mind being nervous."

Nervous may not be the best thing to say at a time when victory was in her grasp for the first time.

Forty-four laps into the race today, those nerves look to be showing, at least a little, as she sat outside the top-10 in 14th place.

There is a mentality that comes with NASCAR, and her comments Friday may have sent people the wrong message in how she feels about being the top dog in a race. If she feels she has a bull's eye on her back, that is a tough way to feel looking for her first victory. A daunting task, as well.

But that is what she has to expect when competing on the NASCAR circuit. Because she is good-looking, somewhat of a talent in the sport and continues to appear in those GoDaddy.com commercials, she will always be looked at as someone worth watching the sport for, but may never get her chance to shine on the big stage.

Saturday was a really good chance to show just how good she is to the casual fan, as she held the poll, but the results were not what was expected, or maybe they were expected.