Danica Patrick encouraged by early-season progress
AVONDALE, Ariz. — In a room filled with three dozen youths at a Phoenix educational center this week, Danica Patrick posed a simple question: How many of you follow racing?
None of the students raised their hands.
Still, everyone at Arizona Call-A-Teen Resources, where Patrick was making an appearance on behalf of sponsor GoDaddy, knew exactly who she was. Thanks to her celebrity and a heavy marketing push, Patrick is perhaps NASCAR's most famous driver.
The moment wasn't awkward for Patrick, who lives under a magnifying glass and has every move scrutinized. She's as much at home in the spotlight as she is when she returns to the Phoenix area, where she lived for years and still owns a residence.
In the week leading up to Sunday's CampingWorld.com 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Patrick hung out with close friends, went hiking and did yoga — just like she did before moving to NASCAR and the Charlotte area full time.
And while she'd love to move back to Arizona someday — Patrick now lives in North Carolina with boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — it would be impossible under the current circumstances.
"Could I see myself living here full-time? I could, because I do love it here and I enjoy it and I have a house, so it's easy," she said. "But for what I do right now? No way."
As Patrick continues to try to improve her NASCAR results, there's too much that requires her attention in North Carolina. In NASCAR, teams like Stewart-Haas Racing hold weekly competition meetings and expect drivers to pop into the race shop from time to time — something that was foreign to Patrick during her IndyCar days.
"I never went to my race shop in IndyCar — ever," she said. "Shoot me. It sounded really boring."
But in NASCAR, she said, "It's such a long season, long haul, it's easy to get down or frustrated. … You need to go there for morale."
It's all part of the process for Patrick, whose supporters point to baby steps toward achieving better results in NASCAR. So far this season, she has finished 21st, 16th and 27th — not good, but not as bad as she expected.
After a crew chief change for the final few races of 2014 produced disappointing runs — she now has former Kurt Busch crew chief Daniel Knost — Patrick was left concerned and anticipating more growing pains.
"While the results haven't been great, I actually feel like it's been a little bit better than I thought it would be," she said. "I was a little scared at the end of last year with how we were going in practice and how everything was going in general. The races were a little better than everything else, but they still weren't very good.
"There's been a lot more hope in the races of really being in the top 15 and having more speed than I expected based on the end of last year."
And realistically, a 15th-place finish every week would be a huge improvement for Patrick, whose average finish last year was 23.7 (a step up from 26.1 in her rookie season).
SHR teammate Kevin Harvick, the defending series champion, said Patrick "had a really good year" until the end of last season.
"I thought she raced well, didn't finish (in) some of the situations she was in to capitalize on a top-15," Harvick said Friday. "I think for her situation, 10th to 15th are realistic goals and really trying to build on those finishes and get some top 10s along the way, which she did."
With Knost on top of the pit box instead of veteran Tony Gibson, Patrick said she's going through a "process" to work on understanding what changes work and what to ask for out of her car. But with Knost as more of an engineer than Gibson — something Patrick was familiar with in IndyCar — she's still optimistic the runs could improve.
"What is exciting is potential of what could be because we're both so green," she said. "So far, we've worked really well together. It's been really easy. It's been non-personal but productive."
There could be more pressure than usual to deliver results, because Patrick's contract is up at the end of this season — an agreement which expires along with GoDaddy's sponsorship. SHR has said it is working to renew the deals.
In the meantime, Patrick will take to what was once her home track on Sunday in hopes of beating expectations. She was 22nd in Saturday's first practice session, a day after qualifying 23rd.
But while a top-15 would be a happy homecoming for Patrick, her new home will remain North Carolina — at least for as long as she chooses to pursue a life in stock car racing.
"You gotta work really hard (in NASCAR)," she said. "You do. It is really hard work to be good in NASCAR. And it starts with me showing up (at the shop) and showing my face."
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PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Danica Patrick