Danica Patrick Gets Red Carpet Welcome Back From NASCAR

LOUDON, N.H. -- Danica Patrick left the mandatory rookie driver meeting and happily strolled to her race car in the New Hampshire Motor Speedway garage Friday morning, where about 15 photographers, three television camera crews and a crowd of star-struck NASCAR fans greeted her smiling face.

Two of her competitors this weekend, racing brothers Mike and Kenny Wallace were waiting to ask her to pose with them for a photograph by her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.

After the hour-long Nationwide Series opening practice -- in which Patrick was 43rd slowest of 44 cars -- she dutifully answered reporters questions in a standing room only news conference -- the only one of the day attended by track owner Bruton Smith.

After the formal question-and-answer period, track General Manager Jerry Gappens presented Patrick with a pair of $1,000 designer Yves Saint Laurent high heels -- 4-inch gold stilettos -- as a "thank you" gesture for picking the New Hampshire oval as one of the 13 Nationwide Series venues she'll compete at this year.

Welcome back, Danica. NASCAR really, really, really missed you.

A gift of locally tapped maple syrup would have been less sappy.

And although obviously surprised by the over-the-top gesture, Patrick handled it graciously, kissing the shoes for photographers and thanking the track.

It just shows the near-desperation level to bring Patrick into the NASCAR embrace.

Gappens said ticket sales are up 30 percent for Saturday's race and NASCAR is hoping that sagging television ratings will make an abrupt upward trajectory as Patrick returns to the stock car circuit after spending the last three months concentrating on her fulltime job, competing in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

But the sheer novelty of having IndyCar's most famous driver on the NASCAR starting grid will eventually wear off. Her performance will matter as much as her presence.

At least, it should.

But clearly that time hasn't come yet.

For now, Patrick is enjoying a grace period, a honeymoon, a free pass. .... fancy shoes.

Far from resenting the attention Patrick receives -- unrivaled during race weekends -- most of her Nationwide Series competitors claim they appreciate the spotlight she's bringing to NASCAR's second-tier series. At Daytona, driver James Buescher joked that he wanted to make sure he raced alongside Patrick at some point for the television time it would give his sponsor.

Through it all, Patrick insists her drive to succeed and be taken seriously as a competitor matches any great expectation NASCAR has thrust upon her as auto racing savior. The question is who needs who more. Does Patrick's career benefit from moving to NASCAR? And how does it help the series should she not be competitive in its cars?

The current reality is that she averaged a 34th-place finish in her first three Nationwide starts for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team this February. Her best lap of practice Friday was 24th fastest in the second session. Her 90 laps of practice was the most of any driver. She'll qualify for Saturday's race, along with the rest of the field, beginning at 10:05 a.m. Saturday. The race is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

To be fair, other than a short test at Milwaukee, she hasn't been in a stock car in three months. And she conceded again Friday that a top-15 or top-20 would be success under the circumstances this weekend.

"It's really going to be difficult for her just to pop over here and have success,'' veteran Jeff Burton said. "But I do want to say, that I admire her for trying.

"It takes a lot of guts to expose yourself in front of millions of people, in front of all the media, in front of all your peers; it takes a lot of guts to expose yourself to not maybe being as successful as you want to be.

"If somebody came to me and said, 'Hey, you want to run Texas in an IRL car?' I'd say, 'Hell no! I don't want to get embarrassed!' She's doing that. I have a lot of respect for that.''

For her part, Patrick is savvy enough to know the reasons she has this opportunity.

"More than ever it takes the whole package to be successful,'' said Patrick, who is coming off three consecutive top-10 finishes on the IndyCar circuit.

"It takes a driver that can drive the car, but that can also speak to the media and drive sponsorship dollars.'

"I'm always flattered that I have so many fans. I'm lucky people are curious about me and that's why I want to do well.

"Of course, I want to do well for me and for everyone who's working so hard to get me into the car and for the fans. They want to watch me do well.''