Where could Danica Patrick still find a ride for the 2018 NASCAR season?
By Nick Tylwalk
We examine the best chances Danica Patrick has of actually getting a full-time ride for next year.
Danica Patrick hasn’t had the greatest year in the Monster Energy NASCAr Cup Series. It has nothing to do with her on-track performance, which has been ever so slightly better than normal, albeit without wins or even top-10 finishes, save a lone 10th place at Dover.
On the business side, things have been much worse, with sponsors seemingly abandoning her and the inevitable split with Stewart-Haas Racing coming at the end of the season. Still, Patrick says she has no plans to retire, and others believe she wants to stick around in a Cup Series car.
The question, of course, is where that might take place. Silly Season is still churning, but some of the bigger pieces of the overall 2018 puzzle have already fallen into place, most notably with the news that Kasey Kahne knows where he’ll be racing. The list of prominent free agents is down to Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch (unless Stewart-Haas takes him back) and Patrick.
However, there aren’t many open or even potentially open seats left. So where could Patrick land? We took a spin through the full-time teams with questions for 2018 to highlight potential landing spots.
This doesn’t mean Patrick has spoken to any of these teams (though we imagine she might have) or if they’d consider hiring her, just that they are cars she could end up in. Without further ado, in numerical order …
No. 15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet
A team that has run multiple drivers in 2017, it should have some more stability next season since it is effectively merging with Tommy Baldwin Racing. Reed Sorensen has been the guy behind the wheel more often than not this season, but maybe this team decides to take a step forward in terms of getting noticed.
No. 23 BK Racing Toyota
Another car that has had more than one person at the wheel this season, the 23 has been the main vehicle for rookie Corey LaJoie. However, BK also has a second (though charter-less) car, the No. 83, and thus could field both Patrick and LaJoie next season if it thought that was an idea worth pursuing.
No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Current driver Paul Menard is off to join the Wood Brothers next season, and Ty Dillon is sticking with Germain Racing instead of joining brother Austin at RCR. There hasn’t been as much buzz about this car as you might expect, leading some to believe Childress will just shut it down, but you never know.
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No. 33 Circle Sport / TMG Chevrolet
Is running the whole season this year and actually got a big name sponsor, Hulu, despite the fact that Jeffrey Earnhardt generally runs around near the rear of the field. A switch to Patrick doesn’t seem impossible, especially if Hulu wanted to stick around for 2018.
No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Even though this is rumored to be where Michael McDowell ends up, there are a lot of possibilities with Front Row since it has a second car and also a third charter which it leased to another team in 2017. So if Patrick and a willing sponsor came knocking, you’d imagine the team would listen.
No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford
All reports suggest The King would like to see Bubba Wallace here, and it would be great to see him in Cup full time. Then again, the problem for RPM is sponsorship, and Wallace isn’t any better off than Patrick in that regard. Richard Petty has shot from the hip with his opinion on Patrick in the past, but if the choice was her or the 43 closing up shop … there’s really no choice there.
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No. 72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet
The many questions swirling around this team, which leased a charter from Front Row Motorsports for the 2017 season, would make a match with Patrick seem unlikely. Still, it would stand to get a boost in coverage/recognition if it hired her, so we need to include it.