Danica Dazzles At Daytona!

Patrick Shines in ARCA debut.

While most of the free world watched Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints upset the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, another underdog story was unfolding in a different Florida city.

Is Danica Patrick for real?  That's a question that takes about three seasons to answer.  A very strong performance in the ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 this weekend at Daytona gives us optimism but we can't get carried away; she still has a LOT to learn.  While I was impressed with the way she fought through her first ever stock car race, I was more excited to see that she enjoyed herself.  She did a good job missing two wrecks and a great job driving through near disaster on lap 54.  She restarted 24th with about 25 to go and drove her way to a more than respectable 6th place finish.

She not only showed great poise and talent on Sunday, she proved that she isn't intimidated by the whole "rubbin' is racin'" thing.  She's been in the IRL where bumping is too risky to attempt.  Let's not forget that when open wheel cars make contact, one of them usually gets airborne real quick!  That couldn't have been easy to get used to but she seemed unfazed and ran door to door with drivers that had been racing this way for most of their careers.  Proof of this was when she leaned on Rickey Carmichael in their battle to the checkered flag; that took guts, confidence and moxie. She said, "The Go-Daddy car doesn't look very pretty, but it was fun."  That's what racing is supposed to be...FUN!

Some detractors will say that her success has more to do with having good equipment than with any real talent.  I say that an average or below average driver doesn't make up 18 positions in 23 or 24 laps no matter how good the car is.  The car itself didn't exhibit the control needed to miss those wrecks or drive it's own way out of that spin.  Besides, show me anyone that wins races at that level with bad equipment.  If their argument is true, the same could be said about Hendrick Motorsports.  They have far and away the best cars every week in the Sprint Cup series.  Does that mean Johnson, Martin, Gordon and Junior are just products of the great equipment?  It's ridiculous to suggest either scenario is true.

I've watched a lot of good drivers from the flag stand and they all have one thing in common...the guts to hang it out there, come what may.  I witnessed Bill Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Hershel McGriff and Ron Hornaday display the uncanny ability to go where no one else dared and make it work.  I'm not going to say that Danica is as good or better than any of the afore mentioned drivers, but I will say that she shows the same passion, desire and willingness to be aggressive as they do.  She certainly has the talent to succeed at the ARCA and maybe even the Nationwide level, but the Cup level is an entirely different animal all together.  I'm not ready to anoint her the next Petty or Earnhardt just yet.

If her agent and ownership (JR Motorsports) can bring her along at a controlled pace, never giving her more than she is ready for, she can get it done.  I think they might be pushing her just a little too hard at this point.  Having her enter the Nationwide race this weekend at Daytona may be a bit pre-mature.  Although what she displayed in the ARCA race was encouraging, she needs time to process it and decompress.  Jumping from ARCA to the Nationwide series is a tall order for anyone not named Mark Martin.  I think the wisest course of action is to just stick to the plan they mapped out from the beginning.  Go to California and Vegas, learn all you can, then get back for the IRL season.  Come back when the series goes to New Hampshire and leave the "baptism of fire" that is restrictor plate racing for next season.