Skip to footer

Danica Patrick 'not a race car driver,' says Kyle Petty

Danica Patrick: Kyle Petty, the son of NASCAR legend Richard Petty, says he doesn't think Danica Patrick is a qualified NASCAR driver. What does Patrick say?

|
Nick Wass/AP
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Danica Patrick talks to the media outside her hauler, May 31, 2013, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del.
  • By Gary Graves Associated Press

| Sparta, Ky.

Kyle Petty continues to doubt Danica Patrick's future as a NASCAR driver.

During a Thursday night appearance on SPEED's "Race Hub" program, the former driver and current TV analyst said Patrick is more of a marketing machine than a race car driver and doubts the 30-year-old will ever be one "because I think it's too late."

Patrick is a Sprint Cup Series rookie with Stewart Haas Racing following an open wheel career in the IZOD IndyCar Series highlighted by an historic 2008 victory at Motegi, Japan. She won the pole and finished eighth in the season-opening Daytona 500 but her average starting and finishing positions are 32nd and 25.8 respectively.

Former boss Dale Earnhardt Jr. disagreed with Petty's assessment, saying Friday that Patrick "is outrunning several guys on the circuit."

That likely won't stop Petty, 53, son of seven-time Cup champion Richard "The King" Petty and an eight-time race winner, from criticizing Patrick. An analyst for TNT and Fox/SPEED, he understands the widespread interest in Patrick, who has been featured in racy TV ads for sponsor Go Daddy and was IndyCar's most popular driver for several years.

Patrick's driving skills, in Petty's opinion, don't justify the hype.

"That's where I have a problem," he said. "Where fans have bought into the hype of the marketing, to think she's a race car driver. She can go fast, and I've seen her go fast. She drives the wheels off it when she goes fast."

Asked if she has learned to race, Petty continued, "she's not a race car driver. There's a difference. The King always had that stupid saying, but it's true, 'Lots of drivers can drive fast, but very few drivers can race.' Danica has been the perfect example of somebody who can qualify better than what she runs. She can go fast, but she can't race."

As someone who gave Patrick a chance to transition to stock cars over three years in the Nationwide Series at JR Motorsports, Earnhardt calls Patrick a tough competitor who works hard and said she wouldn't have a ride if she couldn't stay with the pack or finished last every week.

"If she was not able to compete," Earnhardt said at Kentucky Speedway, "I think you might be able to say Kyle has an argument. But she's out there running competitively and running strong on several accounts. I think that she has got a good opportunity and a rightful position in the sport to keep competing and she just might surprise even Kyle Petty."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Danica Patrick 'not a race car driver,' says Kyle Petty
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0628/Danica-Patrick-not-a-race-car-driver-says-Kyle-Petty
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe