Danica Patrick: Crash Potential At Richmond Has NASCAR Driver Worried

For Danica Patrick, crashing tonight at the Richmond International Raceway has the NASCAR driver openly speculating about how things could go wrong out on the track.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, it’s said that Danica’s celebrity status as a GoDaddy girl may the key to the company going public with its stock. But Danica Patrick’s crash record has earned her a sort of infamy among fellow NASCAR drivers, who were caught on video openly cursing her out and making jokes about her driving abilities. For example, Clint Bowyer was hit by her during a pit stop and during a race he said, “First thing we got do is get away from this lunatic behind us.” At one point Greg Bible jokes, “Somebody needs to tell Danica she can go straight forward.”

Now Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond has Patrick wondering aloud how she might avoid another crash:

“I have a really hard time getting into Turn 1. I feel like the car is going to spin out the whole time, so I don’t know. Hopefully, this time will be different. I have said in the past when people ask me what my favorite track is, I say, ‘Whatever I’??ve done well at,’ and I’ve gone from hating to loving a track in one day. So, hopefully, that will be the case at Richmond.”

Danica also explained her love-hate relationship with Richmond, which is a three-quarter-mile short track in Virginia. She complains that during IndyCar career she was consistently placing in the top five, but ever since she’s made the switch to NASCAR stock cars she has not had a single good race at Richmond. Last year she only managed to place 29th and 30th on the oval track. She even turned the admission into a joke, saying that if anyone has the driver’s “key to Richmond, please pass it along because I have not figured it out yet.”

Regardless of Danica Patrick’s crash record becoming a joke among some NASCAR fans, it turns out she is improving. While her average finishing position now hovers at 26.2 during the 2014 season, which is almost identical to the 26.1 average made last year, her average starting position as improved from 30.1 to 26.5. Other sports writers agree, with FOX sports openly saying she’s seen improvement:

“The numbers don’t lie. If you throw out Daytona, where Patrick was taken out in a crash not of her own making, Patrick is doing much better this year than last. In the four races from Phoenix to Auto Club Speedway, Patrick’s average finish this year was 22.50, compared with 30.75 for the same four races a year earlier.”

Still, Danica admits this improvement is “not great” but she feels like she’s “definitely getting better.” She even hopes she might pull off a top 10 finish tonight at Richmond.

Do you think the GoDaddy girl can pull it off, or are you more worried about Danica Patrick crashing again?