Danica Patrick says she’s not retiring from NASCAR

Danica Patrick isn’t ready to call it quits on her NASCAR career just yet, but her next move remains a mystery.

Don’t say that Danica Patrick is retiring from NASCAR just because she lost her ride with Stewart-Haas Racing. She’s certainly not saying that yet.

In response to (understandable) speculation that Patrick could be done with the sport after it was revealed she would not be back with SHR in 2018, she quashed that for the time being in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times (passed along by Jayski).

She mentioned that she would keep on driving until she wasn’t having fun, and that time hasn’t arrived.

"“That’s just not the case. It really just means that I’m not going to be driving for that team anymore. I’ve said for the last year or two that, you know, I’ll do it as long as it’s fun,” Patrick said. “What’s fun is doing well. So, if I feel like I have an opportunity to be in a car that’s going to give me the ability to have fun, which is run well, then that’s what I’m doing to do.”"

The problem, of course, is that it’s one thing to say you’re going to keep driving at the top level and another to keep doing so if no one gives you a seat (see also: Biffle, Greg). Sponsors who want to link up with NASCAR drivers are more important than ever, and in that important aspect of racing, Patrick has slipped dramatically even as her on-track performances have crept up ever so slightly.

In fact, one of the big reasons she won’t be with Stewart-Haas Racing next year has to do with sponsorship. If Patrick, as expected, is replaced by Aric Almirola who brings Smithfield with him from Richard Petty Motorsports, that tells you all you need to know about the kind of business decisions that have her in the position she’s currently facing.

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Since Patrick has already previously ruled out going part-time or dropping down to the XFINITY Series, that leaves precious few landing spots for her in 2018. Perhaps Richard Childress Racing is a possibility with Paul Menard moving on and Ty Dillon staying with Germain Racing. There could be a few others once the remaining shuffling is complete, but they’d almost certainly come with worse cars than she raced at SHR.

In other words, Patrick may very well intend to keep competing at stock car racing’s highest level, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be able to do it. The new few months should give us an answer either way.