Yes, Danica Patrick can Win at Both Daytona and Indianapolis in 2018. Here's Why.

I'm rather neutral when it comes to supporting Danica Patrick.

After her impressive debut Indianapolis 500 mile race in 2005, in which she finished fourth and led 19 laps, Danica Patrick was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

I've never really been a big fan of her, but I'm certainly not a hater either. In fact, I have never understood why so many race fans do hate her. She's broken barriers and set numerous records and standards for women in motorsports. Sure, to call her an "all-time great" may be a stretch, but she certainly was good enough to race in her respective divisions for as long as she has.

I was excited for her in 2008 when she won her first (and to date only) IndyCar Series race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. I was also intrigued by her move to NASCAR in 2010, which became a full-time move in 2012 when she decided to leave IndyCar. I wanted to see her succeed, but aside from a pole at the 2013 Daytona 500, there have only been a few bright spots in her NASCAR career. In the Cup Series, she has only seven top-tens and has never even cracked the top-five in nearly 200 races.

Patrick celebrates her only IndyCar Series win with second-place finisher Hélio Castroneves and third-place finisher Scott Dixon.
(Photo: Jonathan Ferry/Getty Images)

When I consider hypothetical situations, two of them that involve Patrick come to mind immediately. The first is "What if she had stayed in IndyCar?" Who knows. I'm fairly certain she would have stayed at Andretti Autosport, which means the late Dan Wheldon would have never been in the position he was to replace her in 2012, nor would James Hinchcliffe have ended up with her ride after Wheldon's tragic death at Las Vegas. She probably would have won at least a couple more races (she finished second twice in 2010). And maybe, just maybe, her face would be on the Borg-Warner Trophy, immortalized in American open-wheel racing history as the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500.

Patrick moved to the NASCAR Nationwide Series part-time with JR Motorsports in 2010 while continuing to race full-time in IndyCar with Andretti Autosport. She made the full-time switch to NASCAR in 2012, moving to Cup full-time the following year.
(Photo: Car and Driver Blog)

The other hypothetical situation is "What if she had stayed in the then-Nationwide Series a bit longer, for at least two to three more years, before moving to the Cup Series full-time?" Again, we'll never know for sure, but let's assume she remains with JR Motorsports, one of the top organizations in what is now called the Xfinity Series. I'm willing to bet she wins a race or two here as well, maybe on a road course or a super speedway. Regardless, she would have at the very least gotten valuable experience against competition closer to her skill level at the time, which would have better prepared her for her move to NASCAR's top level of racing.

Patrick moonlighted in the Nationwide Series for Turner Scott Motorsports after moving to Cup but never ran a race outside of Daytona or Talladega.
(Photo: Action Sports Photography/Motorsport.com)

But facts are facts, and the fact of the matter is that she was rushed to the Cup Series with a tremendous amount of pressure and never lived up to such lofty expectations. Frankly, how could one expect her to do so?

Patrick struggled early and often in her Sprint Cup Series career, though not every accident was entirely her fault.
(Photo: John Harrelson/Getty Images)

Eventually, the struggles became too much for her to handle. Faced with poor on-track performance relative to her Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, combined with sponsorship woes after GoDaddy.com's departure that included a lawsuit with Nature's Bakery, Patrick announced yesterday that, after tomorrow's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and (most likely) Matt Kenseth won't be the only ones calling it quits on their full-time careers.

Patrick tearfully announced her retirement yesterday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
(Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

However, Patrick also announced something that was perhaps the most surprising thing of all. She will compete in the 2018 Daytona 500 in February before returning to the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Patrick has not run the Indianapolis 500 since 2011 when she finished tenth.
(Photo: Eric Gilbert/Motorsport.com)

Now obviously, there are still several things that need to be sorted out. We have no idea of the team for whom Patrick will be driving in either event. Stewart-Haas will most likely not be an option for Daytona as they are expected to have a full four-car team once again. Likewise, her former IndyCar team is unlikely to be a possibility, as their fifth car run only at Indianapolis will be driven by the late Justin Wilson's brother, Stefan. The only rumor so far is that Patrick could possibly run both races for Chip Ganassi, who owns successful race teams in both series and is interested in making the idea come to life. But despite the unknowns, mark my word and take this down.

Danica Patrick can win both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2018.

Now before you accuse me of being an unrealistic Danica fanboy, let me explain my reasoning.

Patrick led laps on superspeedways several times in her career.
(Photo: Fox Sports)

When it comes to Patrick's performance in NASCAR, there's no question her greatest strength was running on restrictor plate tracks. Patrick has led laps at Daytona and Talladega on numerous occasions. The way those tracks work, anyone who has an understanding of the draft who plays his or her cards right can win the race. Patrick was running third on the final lap of the 2013 Daytona 500 before fading to eighth. Had things gone slightly differently, she may have been able to win that one.

Patrick collided with Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe in the pit lane on lap 171 of the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
(Photo: Michael Damsky/Reuters)

Likewise, Patrick's best track in IndyCar was undoubtedly Indianapolis. Aside from the pictured 2008 collision, Patrick finished in the top ten in every Indianapolis 500 in which she participated from 2005 to 2011. Another thing working in her favor is the new aero kit being introduced for the IndyCar Series in 2018. With new cars, every driver will have somewhat of a learning curve in next year's Month of May.

Still, Patrick will likely need to do some testing to readjust to a single-seater. If I were in her position, I would strongly consider running at least the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the IMS road course to give her additional IndyCar seat time before qualifying for the 500. But given how quickly drivers such as Kurt Busch, Alexander Rossi, and Fernando Alonso have been able to adapt to IndyCars after never having been in one before, it would be foolish to think Patrick cannot do the same after her absence.

Let's also say she works out a deal with Ganassi. Ganassi has pulled off the double himself; in 2010, Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500 while Dario Franchitti kissed the bricks at Indianapolis. His teams are both more than capable of winning, and while Patrick and Ganassi have never worked together, such a combination should be able to provide results should everything go their way.

Should Patrick be expected to win either of these races? Probably not.

But she absolutely can.

Breaking up the pack

Photo: Motorsport.com

If you missed the IndyCar Series race at Texas last Saturday night, you missed a good one.

But while the racing was exciting, not everybody saw the event as a roaring success. Sébastien Bourdais, who is likely out for the season as he continues to recover from injuries sustained at Indianapolis, is apparently not sorry to have been on the sidelines for the race, using some colorful language to express his displeasure with the racing that took place.

Scott Dixon, who was in contention for the win until a crash with Takuma Sato in the closing laps (pictured), stated that additional testing on the new Texas layout could have prevented it from becoming a pack race. The nature of the racing at Texas eliminated all but six cars from the lead lap by the end of the night, leading to discussions over how to minimize such racing in the future.

Ed Carpenter, however, is unconvinced that the pack nature of the race should be blamed on the cars, saying it may be the drivers who need to change in order to avoid the major accidents that took place. Only time will tell. The series does not return to an oval greater than a mile in length until Pocono on August 20.

Dear Honda...

The Power of Dreams?

Dear Honda,

I respect you guys about as much as I respect any other car manufacturer that doesn't particularly pique my interest. I don't love your cars, but I certainly don't hate them either. My mother's Honda Civic lasted her fifteen years. Your cars are known for their reliability.

Which begs the question: what the heck is going on with your racing engines?

Now, I understand your early struggles. You re-entered Formula One in 2015, the second year of the V6 engine era. Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault already had a year's worth of experience off of which to build. You showed slight improvement in 2016, but were still well off the pace, never making it onto the podium for the second straight season.

There's no excuse at this point though. McLaren make a good chassis. They have good drivers. As Fernando Alonso stated in March, there is "only one problem: that is the power unit."

And it's quite a big problem at the moment. So much so that Alonso basically said, "Forget it, the season's already lost so I'm gonna go run the Indy 500."

Now, it seems you guys create durable, strong engines over in IndyCar. At least, that's what you bragged about in 2010. But there were a few Honda engine issues in practice, so reliability was not a sure thing this month of May.

Alonso did quite well, running up front until about twenty laps to go when he dropped out because, what else, his Honda engine failed.

Come on. Really? Even in IndyCar, where you have far more recent experience than your Chevrolet counterparts, Alonso can't trust you guys?

I'm just going to keep this short and sweet, Honda: get your act together.

Alonso is a pure talent. Unfortunately, largely thanks to your engines, that talent is being wasted at the moment.

The Greatest Day in Racing

Last year's three winners: Lewis Hamilton, Alexander Rossi, Martin Truex Jr.
(Photo: NBCSN)

There are three days I look forward to every year more so than any others: Christmas, Easter, and the Sunday before Memorial Day.

Considering that's the day with the most prestigious Formula One race, the most prestigious IndyCar race, and (arguably) the second most prestigious NASCAR race, it makes sense that this is one of my favorite days on the calendar.

Say what you want about Monaco and the kind of racing it produces; I still love it. Strategy becomes that much more important considering how it's virtually impossible to pass. Indianapolis only gets better with age. The past few years have seen some incredible finishes, and I expect nothing different tomorrow. Charlotte, NASCAR's endurance race, will be a bit of an unknown this year. There's an extra stage around which teams must strategize, but with stage racing having provided so much excitement this season, I hope for more of the same in the 600.

So who will win? For Monaco, I'm going with Kimi Räikkönen. After snapping a streak of nearly nine seasons without a pole, assuming Räikkönen gets a good start and Ferrari don't mess up his strategy, look for him to win his first race since his return to the Scuderia in 2014. At Indianapolis, I'm going to be bold and pick Fernando Alonso. Why? Why not. He's got the speed, the team, and the talent. Don't be surprised if the two-time F1 World Champion is drinking the milk on Sunday afternoon. Finally, in Charlotte, I'm picking Kyle Busch. Joe Gibbs Racing is on a high after winning the All-Star Race, which Busch himself won. Look for him to pull off the Charlotte double.

Finally, look for much more frequent blog posts in the weeks to come. I've been quite busy with schoolwork this past month, but now I'm three exams away from finishing high school, so I'll have much more time on my hands for working on this blog.

Notes while I was gone

McLaren's latest Indy entry...until this year (Photo: McLaren)

It's been a while. I've been busy with schoolwork, other real life chores, and another blog for a trip to Mexico. A lot has happened since my last post, so I'll cover the highlights one by one.

Fernando Alonso is running the Indy 500. Sorry Nico Rosberg, your absence on the grid is no longer the biggest shocker of the season. Ironically, Alonso will be driving another McLaren-Honda. The team will get support from IndyCar powerhouse Andretti Autosport, however, so expect them to be competitive. If Manor F1 refugee Alexander Rossi can win the race as a rookie, who's to say a double world champion can't do the same?

On that note, Jenna Fryer owes Alonso a major apology for this column, entitled, "So What that Alonso is Racing in the Indy 500?" Well, Jenna, maybe it's because the F1 season for McLaren is lost, so what do they have to lose? Also, the reason he hasn't scored any points with McLaren this season has been because, well, to put it lightly, his car is terrible. Seriously, Alonso hasn't even finished a race yet! And do you really think Tony Stewart or Danica Patrick would have provided more buzz? Maybe in the States alone, sure, but now the whole world will be watching to see what Alonso to do. I have to give you props, though. When you make Mario Andretti livid, you've accomplished something.

Sauber look to be headed to Honda engines in 2018. That's cool for Honda, I guess, but I'm not so sure about Sauber. I'm sure there's some behind-the-scenes financial reasoning that makes this deal make sense, but McLaren have been so dreadful this year that their $40 million driver has decided to skip their biggest race of the year to go run, well, another biggest race of the year. I'm not convinced that McLaren chassis is all that great either, but Honda still has a lot of work to do as an engine supplier...

Finally, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is retiring after this season. It honestly makes sense, given his expiring contract, but also his health concerns the past few seasons. Personally, my early pick for his replacement is Alex Bowman, but I've been wrong before, so we'll see what Hendrick does.

Stewart Returns to Indy...As a Sponsor

Photo: Motorsport.com

Tony Stewart may not be racing in NASCAR full-time anymore, but that doesn't mean he's done with racing. 

In fact, if you thought he was, you couldn't be more wrong. In addition to running at least 71 other races in 2017, Stewart's foundation will return to Indianapolis as a sponsor for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in the Indy 500.

Stewart will be promoting his Team One Cure program aimed at helping develop and research cancer treatments in both animals and pets, explaining, "We learned that with the One Cure program, cancer treatment breakthroughs are happening through collaboration between scientists and doctors working with both people and pets. It perfectly fits with my foundation’s missions to help children and animals."

Stewart's history at Indianapolis as a driver is a mixed bag when it comes to IndyCar. In five starts, he failed to finish the race twice but also earned three top-ten finishes, with a best of fifth in 1997. The three-time NASCAR Cup champion also won the 1997 Indy Racing League championship, only further adding to his impressive motorsport resume.

From One Backmarker to Another

Photo: Motorsport.com

There are now only three (but really only two) available spots on the grid for 2017.

Sauber, who finished tenth in the Constructors' standings in 2016, just announced plans to sign Pascal Wehrlein to pair with Marcus Ericsson for 2017. Wehrlein moves to Sauber from Manor Racing, who finished eleventh in the Constructors' thanks to Wehrlein's solitary point scored in Austria (Felipe Nasr scored two points for Sauber in Brazil). Wehrlein was also in the running for Nico Rosberg's Mercedes seat and was actually my pick to get it.

This also should all but confirm Valtteri Bottas' move to Mercedes, which in turn would confirm Felipe Massa's return to Williams. Motorsport.com notes all three announcements may coincide with each other once terms are completed and the deals are official.

With this announcement, while Mercedes are still yet to confirm Bottas, it's looking more and more like he's the guy. So just like last year, Manor are the only team yet to confirm their driver lineup for the upcoming season. In fact, neither of those seats are filled. I'm going to refrain from giving any predictions this time. Manor probably need at least one pay driver of some sort, but given the team's history, the driver lineup probably won't be announced until February.

And no, sorry my fellow Americans. Alexander Rossi won't be one of them. He's staying in IndyCar with Andretti. That's a good move; why on earth would you drive for a backmarker and fight for P14 just to put an American on the grid when you could drive for a top IndyCar team and defend your Indianapolis 500 crown?

I've Got a New Blog! Again!

Ten years ago last summer, the Pixar movie Cars was released. While it was not Pixar's most critically acclaimed production of all time, it certainly had a major effect on my life. If you know me well, you probably know where I'm going with this...

I started out as a huge NASCAR fan. That's probably unsurprising, since that's the racing series on which a major portion of Cars is based. The movie came out in June 2006, but it wasn't until October 8 of that year that I watched my first NASCAR race, the 2006 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. I even wrote the linked Wikipedia article on the race, promoted it to Featured Article status, and got it onto the Main Page this fall as "Today's Featured Article" on the ten-year anniversary of the race. (Yes, I have way too much spare time on my hands.)

Photo I took at Dover in 2012 of Kurt Busch

driving to the garage after an engine failure

Next Memorial Day, May 27, 2007, my dad flipped the television to ABC to show me the 91st Indianapolis 500. It didn't take long for me to get hooked to IndyCar either.

It wasn't until a couple of years ago, however, that I really started to get into the true pinnacle of motorsport worldwide, Formula One. I had always had a slight idea of what was going on but I wasn't truly following the sport nearly as much as I do now. For example, I knew Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were rivals at Red Bull Racing, but I would have had no clue what you were talking about if you had told me "Multi-21." When I visited my relatives in London over Easter Break in 2015, I found out Formula One was (and is) just as big of a thing over there as NASCAR is in the States, if not bigger. Once I started learning the basics of the series, all the teams (or constructors), and all the drivers, I was hooked again.

Nowadays, I'll watch anything with four (or two) wheels that goes fast, but these are the three series I follow most. So I decided to start (yet another) blog where I can give my opinions and two cents on what's going on in the world of racing. (I don't want to fill up my personal blog, Schneider Speaks, with nothing but motorsports posts.) Welcome to a new room in my Internet house. Pardon the dust while I work on some formatting...