Well, no one seemed interested in commenting on her daga antics so... let's see if there is any interest in her sprint cup run this weekend @ darlington? How will she qualify? How many laps before she finds the wall? Will she crash out? In how many laps? if so, who will she say is at fault? Will she beat her own odds and actually finish? Does anyone even care about danica on f-chat anymore?
Danica who? Anyone notice that when she was in Indy cars people (and the media) paid a lot more attention to her than now?
OK I'll play She is in Cup race because of owner points and will qualify close to 30th Can't predict when she hits the wall but she will at some time during the race. I say she will crash out and to be fair, the majority of her crashes so far have been caused by someone else. I don't think she will finish. I didn't like Danica before she entered NASCAR. She has changed a lot since then and I'm all for someone bettering themselves as opposed to someone that makes the same mistakes over and over. So far she has done a great job and far exceeded expectations. Now I'm rooting for her to make the negative naysayers eat their words She will also be racing tonight at Darlington in the Nationwide Series and I predict she will do about the same as I predicted for the Saturday night Cup race. While I've never been to the Darlington track I have driven it on the PC race sim, NR2003 and I must say it is a very difficult track to drive let alone master. I'd hit the wall every time as the layout naturally draws you into it. Its hard to describe but if you drove it on the sim you would understand and in turn have a greater respect for what the drivers are doing at that particular track. Darlington is known as the track that is " too tough to tame " and it gets NASCAR's greatest drivers multiple times. There is no shame in hitting the wall at Darlington and its expected for someone going there for the first time. Danica is going there for the first time. Her team picked 10 races for her this year and they picked most of the toughest tracks including Darlington. The goal was to get her exposed to a wide variety of tracks to give her a crash course in stock car racing before she competes for a full season next year. While she may want to compete for wins, I'm sure the team looks at this weekend as more of a test and learning experience. Their expectations are low and would be happy with her finishing on the lead lap. That would be a great first time appearance at a track even the very best know is too tough to tame.
I'm watching the first practice session right now on SPEED and already five Cup drivers have hit the wall on their own. It's just that tough to drive. Under race conditions it gets much worse. So far Danica has a clean right side
Not in the Cup series but she has a chance in the Nationwide. They were just showing her in car camera and she was lifting early and late getting back on the gas which will greatly affect her speed but is expected for a driver new to the track. Any driver's first time at Darlington is only about survival and gaining experience. Nothing more. They will need to return several more times before they can even think about winning. Its just that tough and the reason why a win at Darlington is one of the most coveted trophies in NASCAR.
Danica just scraped the wall in practice and got her first Darlington stripe Six drivers have now hit the wall in the first practice.
her only hope is on super speedways where she can flat foot it. if there is a car control component...she goes down lap(s) quickly. she will gain laps back due to the lucky pass on yellows. she may have some luck eventually on speedways due to her teams great 1.5 mile program and her very , very fast cars. oh well...she will get her win this year...just not at darlington.
One thing that hurts her standings is the fact that NASCAR allows drivers in the top series to compete in the lower series too. What that does is mix teams with superior funds, equipment and experience with teams that are just starting out. It makes the competition so lopsided its a joke. Its not hard for a rookie to go down a lap or two when they have to race against drivers like Kyle Bush and Denny Hamlin who are superior drivers from the top series. They let the top guys in to sell tickets but if they made it so a driver could only race exclusively in one series, which would make the top guys stay in the top, the standings in the Nationwide series would be different. Danica is currently 11th in points. I'm curious to see how well she adapts to the road courses. This year in the Nationwide series she will race at Road America on 6/23, Watkins Glen on 8/11 and Circuit Giles Villeneuve on 8/18. I don't expect her to compete for wins at those tracks either as the top drivers are so good even the ringers can't beat them. It will still be interesting to see how much of her Indy car experience will carry over to the much heavier and different handling stock cars.
your point is well taken as it applies to a few of the teams however Danica's team is not out classed by anyone to out gunned in the money side. Her nationwide package is among the bluest of blue chip rides... and also, her points standing is currently 11th place. The big boys are not able to get points in the nationwide series so her 11th place ranking would be far worse if the spint folks got points credit. she has the best equipment period...hendrick hosspower in nationwide and sprint cup!!! i bet trevor bayne could only hope for such a ride!!!
While the Sprint Cup guys do not get points they still affect her position on the track. Kyle Bush can still " trap " her a lap down effectively allowing her to only race whoever is on the same lap as her. That alone affects her finishing order and the chance to better it. If you take all the full time Cup drivers and ban then from competing in the Nationwide series I guarantee her positions would be higher. Yes, she has the best equipment. But an inexperienced or less talented driver in the very best equipment can still get beat by the very best driver in lesser equipment. Her superior equipment is an equalizer against the more experienced but under funded full time Nationwide teams and thats why it would fun to watch her race against them. Right now the Cup guys get in there and stink up the show by making it a five car race. Don't EVEN get me started
So on Danica's first day ever at Darlington she..... Hit the wall in practice Qualified 15th in the Nationwide race Then qualified 38th in the Cup race Finished 12th in the Nationwide race and if you sent home the Cup drivers that finished 1st 2nd and 3rd she would've had a solid top ten finish which is very respectable for a Darlington rookie. She also completed the race without wrecking or hitting the wall. She moved up one position in the series standings and is now 10th. Saturday night she races in the Cup race which is more R&D for her than competition. Starting 38th it won't take long for her to get lapped and she'll be lucky to keep from going 2 or more laps down. When you consider the difficulty of Darlington her performance today was very commendable. She has a ways to go before she becomes a winner but she is definitely holding her own and impressing her peers.
she stayed on the lead lap for the first half of the race. after she went down a lap, she, along with 4 or 5 other drivers were given their lap back. why?
