Some inspiring words (to/from Danica)

After listening to her on her radio at Daytona. My one thought was, I wonder if she is letting the media push her to try to hard &/or stress out. I was thinking it was having an affect on her thoughts of her own expectations. Now I know her fans will always have a higher expectations for her, but dealing with drivers, it is important they stay realistic & grounded. A concern where many new drivers get caught up in. I am thinking it was, & apparently she thought something similar. Just saw a thing on TV where in an interview, she was speaking of maybe she was giving herself to high of expectations. It is inspiring to think she realizes that the most important step in a 1000 mile hike is the next step. if she can put all (or atleast most) of the media pressure behind her, & concentrate on the realistic goals, I believe she will become better faster. Any driver will tell you, if you push to hard (for whatever reason) it is not better.
Now to see if she listens to herself or not.
BTW on a positive note. I believe these cookie cutter style (& larger) are something she can wrap her handling around. Believe these tracks will be her strengths & confidence builders.
Also appreciate the fact that she realized it is her inexperience (she basically blamed herself) for the phoenix style tracks. Acknowledging the problem is the first steps to correcting them. If she stays grounded, I think good things just might happen for her in the nationwide.

Whether you are a fan or a hater or just on the fence about Danica, the facts are in Indycar NO driver had as much exposure and cameras on her all the time, hoping she does well and also some hoping she fails. Having a good race with cameras is Ok but having a bad race result with cameras is not ok and often her temper got sharp or she disappeared from the media. and it should be simple for most people to see that and understand that, except for the haters who never will.

Now in Nascar with all the hype and expectations its playing out only on a much larger scale. Starting the season with crashes at basically her best type of track Daytona, was iam sure her worst nightmare. Then in Phx not a good result so she was upset and said she was angry at herself and wasnt in the mood to talk with media. For Phx and short tracks she hasnt got the experience or the background to fall back on with short track racing and it will take time, as she doesnt even have enough races for a full season ran yet.

Saw her nascar video from Vegas just now where she admits it all got to her regarding Daytona, the crashes, all the media and traveling for more media etc etc and then the poor Phx result set her temper off and didnt talk with the media afterwards. She said she needs to lower her expectations moreso and face reality it will take time. Remember as I said before and most know, it took Hornish Jr 4 yrs to win in NNS so as an example--it will take time for her as well--hopefully not that long but time will tell?

I think she is trying to tell the media to back off a little but whether they will or not is another story as ratings are up with her in the races and thats news for them whether its all because of her or not, but that kind of pressure all the time would be tough on any driver> I'll wager shes told her own PR team to back off also on media she has to do all the time maybe interfering in her racing, and her personal time as she sounded pretty tired of it all during the interview today. Emotional pressure and expectations can cause added stress, and even though she is used to it, this is a much larger arena as said before and therefore much more demands on her? We'll see if we see less of her maybe now from the media, but dont know?

Well at 1st when I saw how long your post was, I was automatically assuming you took my post as a negative & was in defense mode. Then I realized I am only skimming through your post in expectation of early said thoughts. Since I am in beer drinking mode at home since I have other priorities tomorrow & I am not going out. I dont have the patience to reread your post. LOL
Just know some of what I skimmed through is basically saying what I was saying (then I have to laugh because I know it kills you to agree with me LOL) Not sure what the Indy car reference is too, since I was am only talking about her being in the Nationwide (stock cars) but nonetheless. I am inspired by the notion that she isnt making excuses about how she drove phoenix or the Nationwide as awhole. I told those that werent delusional she basically had no choice but to struggle at Phoenix. However I gave her credit for not trying to do more than expected. She did what she could & nothing more. She didnt overdrive the car & do soemthing stupid. She kept her car clean. Just because we dont wear rose colored glasses about Danica, doesnt make us haters. In fact on some of these message boards I frequent. A lot of these posters deal with real drivers on lesser tracks or divisons (obviously) But those posters that post, still understand drivers (at any level) a lot of these posters you bag on, are bringing a different perspective about driving a racecar, than you a fan that has never been behind the scenes before. Not sure since I wasnt patient eough to reread it again, if you are in defense against what she actually said, or otherwise. But this post is in reference to a positive note for her. Not an attack. It is very important, that a driver is in the right frame of mind, of the senario that they are in. I was impressed by her acknowledgement (that most of her fans refuse to see) To me I saw that as a plus. (not a negative)

BTW as far as the media goes. Nascar is where it is at. Which is a reason why Tony won the driver of the year over vettel. Vettel (sp) dominated his divison of racing (which was F-1) while Tony wasnt even thought about a championship until after the points were reset. Nascar is the most competitive racing in the world, & the media darling whether people want to realize it or not.

All in all racer, between me & you. Danica is less than average in a stock car right now & you should realize that. Now with me saying that, doesnt mean I think she will stay that way (thus this thread I created) but for now maybe you should take a que from her, & realize not to buy into the hype the media creates.
Also this isnt Indy cars. I am so happy she hasnt presented the holier than thou attidue herethat she seemed to have at Indy cars. NowI could be incorrect on this since I never got deep into Indy car coverage about heer & lived on the the media aspect, kinda like her fans are doing in stock cars now.
If I read (I mean skimmed ) through your post incorrectly, then let me appologize ahead of time. If I didnt , then please listen to what I just explained (again)
To everyone else. Sorry you have to read my posts while I am drinking LOL

Well at 1st when I saw how long your post was, I was automatically assuming you took my post as a negative & was in defense mode. Then I realized I am only skimming through your post in expectation of early said thoughts. Since I am in beer drinking mode at home since I have other priorities tomorrow & I am not going out. I dont have the patience to reread your post. LOL
Just know some of what I skimmed through is basically saying what I was saying (then I have to laugh because I know it kills you to agree with me LOL) Not sure what the Indy car reference is too, since I was am only talking about her being in the Nationwide (stock cars) but nonetheless. I am inspired by the notion that she isnt making excuses about how she drove phoenix or the Nationwide as awhole. I told those that werent delusional she basically had no choice but to struggle at Phoenix. However I gave her credit for not trying to do more than expected. She did what she could & nothing more. She didnt overdrive the car & do soemthing stupid. She kept her car clean. Just because we dont wear rose colored glasses about Danica, doesnt make us haters. In fact on some of these message boards I frequent. A lot of these posters deal with real drivers on lesser tracks or divisons (obviously) But those posters that post, still understand drivers (at any level) a lot of these posters you bag on, are bringing a different perspective about driving a racecar, than you a fan that has never been behind the scenes before. Not sure since I wasnt patient eough to reread it again, if you are in defense against what she actually said, or otherwise. But this post is in reference to a positive note for her. Not an attack. It is very important, that a driver is in the right frame of mind, of the senario that they are in. I was impressed by her acknowledgement (that most of her fans refuse to see) To me I saw that as a plus. (not a negative)

BTW as far as the media goes. Nascar is where it is at. Which is a reason why Tony won the driver of the year over vettel. Vettel (sp) dominated his divison of racing (which was F-1) while Tony wasnt even thought about a championship until after the points were reset. Nascar is the most competitive racing in the world, & the media darling whether people want to realize it or not.

All in all racer, between me & you. Danica is less than average in a stock car right now & you should realize that. Now with me saying that, doesnt mean I think she will stay that way (thus this thread I created) but for now maybe you should take a que from her, & realize not to buy into the hype the media creates.
Also this isnt Indy cars. I am so happy she hasnt presented the holier than thou attidue herethat she seemed to have at Indy cars. NowI could be incorrect on this since I never got deep into Indy car coverage about heer & lived on the the media aspect, kinda like her fans are doing in stock cars now.
If I read (I mean skimmed ) through your post incorrectly, then let me appologize ahead of time. If I didnt , then please listen to what I just explained (again)
To everyone else. Sorry you have to read my posts while I am drinking LOL

you didn't share the beer

Racer, I am glad you have finally acknowledge how long it took Sam to make the change from Indy to NASCAR and get a win. He was a much better driver in Indy than Danica and they made the mistake of throwing him into cup too fast which he admits had an effect on his mental game(he said recently when you go from winner almost every you are in to being the joke on the track it takes it out of you). That is why I am hopeful for Danica, but realize she has A LOT to learn and it may take time. I watched her whole press conference from yesterday and am hoping she meant every word except the part about being tired already and if that is the case then hoping she does scale down the PR appearances because being tired at this point in the season does not spell good for the year. I was impressed that she acknowledge that being back at the Vegas track was hard because of the memories she still has from October.

These are JMO. I never thought she was much of a driver in INDY(just because you get the most media attention does not make you a driver) and am hoping for more in NASCAR. My IRL drivers are Tony Kanaan and Helio as well as the late Dan Wheldon.

i seen that too, if she is exhausted now, what til she hits those dog days of summer and they have 10-11 races in a row...

I don't like how Danica gave up on the having title hopes so quickly. I mean I don't think she has a shot either. But as a driver that is one of the worst things you can do. You should shoot for the sky even if you won't make it there. She is a good driver, but it is going to take her time to be good in a stock car week in and week out. I don't think she is ready for Cup, but Tony is probably going to have to move her up in 2013 because Godaddy wants her there. But I've seen drivers with worst nw stats or mediocre stats in the nw series move up (Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson anyone?). Tony Stewart is the exception to he rules about open wheelers as he has been a championship contender since his rookie cup season. Juan Pablo Montoya is also kind of an exception as he came into cup really quickly and at least could hang. But look how Dario flopped and he is an excellent IRL driver obviously. Danica has gone farther than him in NASCAR. Will she win? Not this season but eventually yes. Hopefully she can just continue to learn these cars Tony Eury Jr is doing a solid job as her crew chief. If there wasn't a testing ban they could do so much more to help her.

Ok, I am only asking this because a friend who is an IRL fan asked me this:

Why does everyone think she will win a race in NASCAR when she barely won one race in IRL?

AGAIN, not my question from an IRL fan. I think she can eventually win in NW and will hope for the best when she makes full move to cup.

I agree that they are going to move her up to cup too fast but if Go Daddy wants her there I guess that is where she will be.

more chances to win in nascar??? im just guessing

Danica has to give herself some breathing room and not give the media so much credit. Most of the media has never set foot in a race car and they have no idea what it's like to race. She needs a dart board to practice getting used to what-ever they have to say. They don't walk in her shoes just like the fans don't either. She'll get used to what goes on as long as she has the passion to drive.

Why does everyone think she will win a race in NASCAR when she barely won one race in IRL?

It couldn't be because your friend is profoundly ignorant , could it? First of all it hasn't been called the IRL in several years.

Barely? What precisely does that mean? She won that race by 5.86 seconds.

Allow me to convey a bit of insight into the happenings in the Indycar Series over the last four years ..... 2008 to 2011. If your driver wasn't driving for Chip Ganassi or Roger Penske his/her chances of winning any given race were less than 20% before they ever took to the track.

Between 2008 and 2011 Indycar held 68 races. Of those, 55 were won by drivers for Ganassi (Franchitti, Dixon) or Penske (Power, Briscoe, Castroneves).
The remaining 13 races were won as follows:
Hunter-Ray 3
Kanaan 2
Wilson 2
Rahal 1
Patrick 1
Wheldon 1
Carpenter 1
Andretti 1
Conway 1

THAT my friend is call series dominance. Of course, that sort of thing NEVER happens in Nascar, now does it.

Does all this have anything to do with whether or not she will win in Nascar? Somewhat. To win in any series it takes a driver with the requisite skills and experience, along with the intangible "Will to Win", and a team capable of putting a competitive car under her. She possesses the intangible. She has proven to be a quick learner in every series she has run. I am confident the skill and experience will come in time. It looks like JRM is capable of putting competitive cars under her. So stay tuned. Together we will see what happens. Should be interesting.

I did check the points the other day. Inspite of what would seem to be a rather modest start to the season, she currently sits 15th in NNS points, 4 points out of 10th.

that is some interesting & hard facts to debate.

55 of 68 races won between two teams. thats even more dominate than HMS & Roush.

Let me ask (true question since I dont get deep into Indy cars) do they finish 1st through 5th every season too? (Ganassi & Penske)

Sorry Futura, I get stuck calling things what they have always been to me and have trouble changing(there are times I still say Busch Series when I know good and well it's Nationwide, just the way my brain works).
Franchitti and Danica were teammates when he was the Champion in 2007, unless I am remembering wrong. 2 of Ryan Hunter-Reay's wins were when he was a teammate of Danica at the time. Tony Kanaan was a teammate of Danica's when he got his 2 wins.

I am not arguing it was a question I got from an Indy Car fan that knows I watch NASCAR too. Look for most Indy fans she was the Anna Kournikova of racing.

I have said it before I hope she succeeds because it will help other women to progress in NASCAR, but I do have questions about whether or not she will and my INDY friends keep giving me grief about NASACR fans not realizing what they did.

Let me ask you something Lizard. When did Anna Kornakova ever play mens' professional tennis. Danica doesn't race in the Ladies Nascar Series. I get mighty weary of that lame-assed analogy all the haters have been using ever since that moron of a writer at ESPN used it several years ago.

A lot of people are still calling it the IRL. I thought you meant your friend who follows it was still calling it the IRL.

I agree, she is the best thing to come along in racing for quite a while. She has a huge fan base that is following her to Nascar. It is good for racing all the way down to the local track level. In 55 years of hanging around short tracks around here, never have I seen so many females breaking into the sport. It's really cool. Her influence is obviously quite pervasive.

Of those 13 wins, one of Hunter-Ray's, Two of Kanaan's, one of Marco's and one of Conway's, along with her's were at Andretti. But compared to Ganassi and Penske, Andretti has clearly been a second tier team. I'm not quite sure I see your point.

Schmoopy, without going back and digging through the records, just off the top of my head, I'd say yeah, pretty much, they usually finish as the top five every year. Oh, I'm sure there may be a couple of exceptions, but none come to mind except when she finished 5th in points a couple of years ago, she finished ahead of Castroneves I believe.

Not sure where your going with this but--Danica finished 6 of her 7 yrs top 10 or better in season ending points and 12th as a rookie in Indycar. She had a best of 5th in 2009 when she beat all of Andretti drivers and was the top finishing American driver that yr, as indycar has lots of foreign drivers to be sure. She also has a top 10 % of about 53 % for top 10's in 63 races out of 115 starts, meaning better then every other race she got a top 10 or better, also 20 top 5's and 3 poles, and the 1 win. She also had a 4th and 3rd place finish at the Indy500, and 6yrs of top 10's or better there every yr but one, and led many laps. She currently holds the record of 50 races, 3 yrs+ without a DNF in Indycar--not too shabby meaning she was good at driving smart and taking care of her car, which cant be said now about the crashfests known as Nascar..

While her achievements seem meager to some in Indycar, it will be tough for any female driver to equal or best what she has done, as none are even close and many male drivers cant equal her stats over all her yrs in Indycar either.

Have to wonder how she'll feel about her Nascar stats after this yr as she is certainly struggling starting this FT season off now in NNS?? Iam not even considering her pT cup stats as i know she wont like them, as she isnt ready for Cup--Oh well?