After announcing her retirement from racing last November, Danica Patrick is set to hang up her helmet with a two-part swan song. The 2018 Daytona 500 and Indy 500 will be her last races before turning her full attention to her entrepreneurial ventures.
What better way to say goodbye than wearing the iconic fluorescent green of former long-time sponsor GoDaddy, who have reunited with Patrick to support her testimonial races? With the internet giant’s funding, she has managed to sort out her NASCAR entry.
Premium Motorsports will be in charge of running the 7 car, an homage to Patrick’s number in the ARCA and Nationwide series, where she made her stock car debut in 2010 before joining the premier NASCAR series in 2012. PM has a guaranteed spot in the 40-car-strong field for "The Great American Race" due to the series charter system.
With Daytona taken care off, the question of Indy remains wide open. Though funding won’t be an issue, all the big teams seem to have their plans for the 500 set in stone without room to chisel Patrick in. Looking at the rest of the field, Indy-specialist outfit Dreyer & Reinbold Racing seem to be the likeliest choice, but the most attractive option would be to entice Ed Carpenter into fielding a third car alongside himself and Spencer Pigot.
Carpenter is known for his qualifying form at the Brickyard, with two pole positions to his name in recent years and a front row start last season. With setup playing such a crucial role at Indy, both in quali as in the race itself, his team’s know-how would be Patrick’s best bet at saying goodbye to racing with a healthy chug of milk and a hearty smooch to the mythical yard of bricks.
