Danica Patrick: Who's Going to Be Her Replacement at Andretti Autosport?

One thing that people aren’t talking about with Danica Patrick most likely leaving for NASCAR for a full-time ride next year is who is going to be her replacement?

With Go Daddy not likely to renew their sponsorship with Andretti, since they're following Danica, a new sponsor will be needed.

Lets look at the list of replacements for the No. 7 car. 

There are tons of quality drivers that are out there.  The most obvious would be bringing two-time Indy 500 champ Dan Wheldon back to Andretti.  He won the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the series championship with them that year as well.  They could even merge with Herta Autosport, a former driver with Andretti and good friend, and make it easy on everyone.  William Rast has been the sponsor for Herta the last couple of 500s, so I don’t see why they couldn’t work on a full-season deal.

Another option would be Sam Hornish Jr.  He is still without a full-time ride at the moment and he would be a great driver to help the Andretti franchise.

Buddy Rice or Townsend Bell would be great drivers to bring into the mix, if Andretti wanted to keep a veteran behind the wheel.  Both drivers are very reliable behind the wheel and have been very fast at Indy.

A couple of other options would be to bring back Tony Kanaan, but I think that is highly unlikely.  I predict Ryan Briscoe will be let go from Penske after this season, if not before, and Tony will join Penske and his best friend Helio Castroneves.  With that option, Briscoe could become an asset for Andretti.

If Michael Andretti wanted to look to the future and go with a young driver, he has a couple of options as well.  He has Justin Wilson’s younger brother Stefan, who is a driver for Andretti in the Indy Lights Series. 

Another attractive pick from the Indy Lights would be second-generation driver Conor Daly.  Conor has had success with anything he has hopped into.  The only problem is that I think he wants to go the Formula One route.  If that’s the case, Conor’s teammate in the Indy Lights, Josef Newgarden, would be a great pick up as well.  Josef has shown success in the Indy Lights also.

As always, money will be a huge factor in this decision.  I think all of those are solid options and don’t be surprised if he goes for one of those listed.