[hada76]

as said above...marketing. why not?, shes easy on the eyes and could bring more women fans to the sport. none of the top guys have anything to fear. as far as stewart, he has the most in common with her (he has a mangina)

[tom s]

only 8-9 cars left intact with 10 to go?Tom

[Sirrotica]

Yeah, is half the field goes out in the big one, and 10-15 are tore up in skirmishes, 8-10 cars left without serious damage repaired or not. We'll see how the new car drives tomorrow in the twins.

[tom s]

I think its really going to interesting.Watched the 39 just get stupid loose without being touched.Tom

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

i predict 14 on the lead lap with 10 laps to go ... after that it could drop significantly.
and no idea who those 14 will be .

[65WJ]

One red flag and 2 Green-White Checkered finishes. Should take about 4.5-5 hours. Need commercial time to pay the bills. (go daddy commercials) It's all about who they want to promote that will benefit the sport the most. Right now that is the 10 car. IMO.

patrick

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

She needs a few Top 10 finishes before other drivers gain some respect for her. And as Champ pointed out, she's a way's off from doing that. With her reputation, and her bikini shots, the seasoned NASCAR drivers simply don't have any respect for her. She's a rookie, with a long racing career, but still a rookie. They don't like running behind her. But she's getting better.

She has a top notch ride now, so if she's going to prove anything, it will be this year. There are a lot of other guys that had success but were traded away, now driving inferior cars. David Reutemann and David Ragan are two that come to mind. But Danica brings in the bucks, and that's why Tony Stewart wanted her on his team. If she wins a race, all the more for Tony and the team.

But I don't believe for a MINUTE that Stewart feels he has the best driver he could get for his team. He just got the most marketable.

Tony wanted to expand to 3 teams for 2013. With sponsor dollars hard to come by, "Wanica" as Sirrotica posted, offered the best opportunity. Go Daddy has a virtual blank check for her for the time being. As long as she continues with the sexy ads and bikini images, Go Daddy's hooked.

When she stops posing - that well will run dry, she'll lose her ride and a more deserving driver will get an opportunity.

[ho428]

Originally Posted by Dennis H.

I am tired of people making excuses for Danica being in Nascar, she is only there for one reason, and it is not for her driving skill or record. Only one win, which was in indy car and it was for fuel mileage and not all out racing, does not a nascar champion make..

No one has claimed she is a Champion, she's a mid level racer as was Tony Stewart and many others in their first few years. My guess is she'll stay mid level with an occasional front run. What's Montoya's average finish? Around 19.9 I think, and he was hyped to high heaven and was a Champion, but turned out to be a mid level Nascar driver.

Like Montoya Danica can drive, she can race, but can she win? So far, no. Even if she were to only win 5-10 races in her entire Cup career she'd be above a lot of other drivers. I'll give her the benefit of racing a few more seasons.
But right now she's back there with the mid level group with flashes of front running.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by ho428

No one has claimed she is a Champion, she's a mid level racer as was Tony Stewart and many others in their first few years. My guess is she'll stay mid level with an occasional front run. What's Montoya's average finish? Around 19.9 I think, and he was hyped to high heaven and was a Champion, but turned out to be a mid level Nascar driver.

Like Montoya Danica can drive, she can race, but can she win? So far, no. Even if she were to only win 5-10 races in her entire Cup career she'd be above a lot of other drivers. I'll give her the benefit of racing a few more seasons.
But right now she's back there with the mid level group with flashes of front running.

Hot Flashes for her already ??? WOW she seems too young for that to have started...

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

I think she'll do just fine once she has a few seasons under belt. I know people have stated what her "average" finish was in certain series. But, last year was her FIRST full season in any car other than an open wheel car. In 2010 she split her time between Indy, Nationwide, ARCA, and the K&N Pro series. 2011 it was split between Indy and Nationwide. 2012 was her first full season in Nationwide, finished 10th in points and had a pole at Daytona, and ran 10 races in Cup. This is her first full season in Cup. Takes a while to learn the tracks and these cars. And this years car is different from last years car. So I'll give her a shot. But like some have said she has a BIG target on her back.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by ho428

No one has claimed she is a Champion, she's a mid level racer as was Tony Stewart and many others in their first few years.

Here you are, again, trying to compare Wanica to Tony....

Tony had 5 top five finishes in Busch (Nationwide) in 1998 running a part time schedule 22 race NASCAR ride and a full time Indy car schedule.

Let me repeat that - 5 Top Five's!

Tony had already won MULTIPLE CHAMPIONSHIPS.

As a rookie in Cup, he finished 4th in the points.

That is not a "midlevel racer by any credible standard.

Wanica has 1 top five finish in 3 years and 58 Nationwide races. She's won a single race in her entire automobile racing career and has never won an automobile racing championship at any level.

And her "midlevel racer" performance in both Indy Car and NASCAR has been accomplished only because of her TOP LEVEL equipment and crews.

Last year in the Nationwide series, Wanica finished in 10th place with 838 points for the season, running the best equipment money could buy and every race.

Contrast that to Joe Nemechek who finished 11th with 816 points running a bargain basement team and only making 32 races.

There were only 13 drivers in Nationwide that ran all 33 races. So that 10th place finish might look good until you realize that she was in 10th place out of 13 competitors.

She isn't a mid level racer - she's a bottom feeder. She only finished ahead of low budget teams that don't have the equipment or crews to be competitive.

Her current main squeeze, Ricky Stenhouse, won the title with 1251 points. The top 6 in points were all over 1,000 points. The top 8 in points all had over 900 points. The worst point total for those that ran all 33 races was still over 700 points.

A "mid level" racer should have had at least 1,000 points in last year's Nationwide series.

Wanica wasn't even close...

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by 67 455 Bird ragtop

I think she'll do just fine once she has a few seasons under belt. I know people have stated what her "average" finish was in certain series. But, last year was her FIRST full season in any car other than an open wheel car. In 2010 she split her time between Indy, Nationwide, ARCA, and the K&N Pro series.

And what was her average finish THAT year? 28th - no wins - no top 5's - no top 10's...

She now has 58 races under her belt in the Nationwide series, 10 cup races and I don't know how many ARCA races over 3 seasons.

With the top equipment, special training (I have a personal friend that was hired by DEI to help teach her to drive) and top crews - she should be doing much better than she has.

[ho428]

Last year in the Nationwide series, Wanica finished in 10th place with 838 points for the season, running the best equipment money could buy and every race.

Contrast that to Joe Nemechek who finished 11th with 816 points running a bargain basement team and only making 32 races.

And just how many seasons of NASCAR experience does Joe Nemecheck have?

10th place in points is pretty darn good in your first full season.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by ho428

And just how many seasons of NASCAR experience does Joe Nemecheck have?

10th place in points is pretty darn good in your first full season.

Joe has many years of experience. Joe Nemechek is not a top driver in NASCAR.

If he had Wanica's equipment and crew - he'd have been in the top 5. 10th place (under the current rules) in Nationwide is terrible if you run all the races.

You need to remember, Wanica finished 10th out of 13 drivers that ran all 33 races. The 3 drivers she "beat" were all running bargain basement equipment.

Pretty good is Tony Stewarts 4th place in Cup in his first full NASCAR season against 43 of the best NASCAR drivers in the world. He also did the Memorial Day double that year - finishing 9th in the Indy 500 and then taking 3rd in the Coke 600.

[Region Warrior]

Some actually think the rest of the drivers backed off so she could get the pole?
Really...?....SERIOUSLY?!...
Deserved or not, think no other drivers wouldnt want her ride and sponcers?

[KS circutguy]

[Racer81x]

Boy wanica droped like a rock at the start of the first 125 to a 18th place finsh.


At one of my jobs we have a pool for the 500 that you draw a starting position to determine who you have, after the 125's.
Needless to say I already lost and am out of $5 since I drew the pole, and nobody wants to trade starting spots with me

[richard sargent]

I guess the promoters know what their doing 78 posts and counting, a whole lot of nothing on the PY board.

In the year of 2013 and the net, can't sing, can't dance, can't act, very average talent, but it you look hot you got it made!

[65WJ]

Originally Posted by KS circutguy

this is awsome.

[Alvin]

During the Duels race coverage the only thing more obnoxious than the
DANICA, DANICA, DANICA drivel was how many times do we really need
to see and hear MICHAEL WALTRIP and his BS!!!??? And then those same
MW comments repeated via rebroadcast and inserted into “LIVE” programming
OVER & OVER & OVER AGAIN!

Hey NASCAR/SPEED/FOX - Give it a rest with MW!!!!