‘Fortunate’ Ryan Blaney fires back at Kyle Busch

Posted on January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 by RJ Kraft

MORE: Steve Phelps explains NASCAR’s marketing strategy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ryan Blaney wasted no time responding to Kyle Busch’s critical comments on the emphasis of NASCAR marketing its young stars, firing back Wednesday during the NASCAR Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I feel like if some drivers were more willing to do these things, they’d get asked more to do it,” Blaney said. “And the reason why I get asked to do it a lot is because I say yes a lot, because I think it’s good for the sport and myself. I can tell you personally, (Busch) doesn’t like doing a lot of stuff, so they don’t ask him.

“So that kind of made me upset, how he bashed that part of it. But, to each his own. If he doesn’t want to do anything, so be it.”

Blaney’s comments are in response to Busch, the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, saying in part Tuesday that “pushing these younger drivers is, I wouldn’t say, all that fair.”

Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief global sales and marketing officer, called into to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “SiriusXM Speedway” program Wednesday afternoon to discuss the sanctioning body’s marketing efforts.

“It’s about our drivers, our crew chiefs and our crews and everyone that makes this sport go,” Phelps said. “The drivers really start with our veteran drivers, Hall of Fame drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. All these guys are such an important part of everything that we do and should be. But we are also need to expose these young drivers so our fans understand who they are, they’re authentic, they want to win on the race track and they’re just fantastic drivers. It’s a mix of veterans and young guys.”

Blaney has been known to do unique things to reach fans and build a following as a young driver, first with Wood Brothers Racing in the No. 21 Ford and now with Team Penske in the No. 12 Ford.

The 24-year-old hosted the “Glass Case of Emotion” podcast on NASCAR.com and interacts regularly with fans on social media. He has appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” and an upcoming episode of NBC’s “Taken,” as well as providing a voice to a character in “Cars 3.” He also hosted a pizza party at Texas Motor Speedway during a break in the January testing session. Blaney said he is looking to have more spontaneous interaction with fans as the year progresses.

“I’ve been really fortunate to get a lot of great chances from NASCAR, and … I’ve always been very open to do a lot of things they want,” Blaney said. ” … I think it is really important to have not only young drivers, but all NASCAR drivers try to be pushing to get to new demographics of the world to get into in the sport. I think everybody should be a little more open to helping the sport out.”

RELATED: Blaney gives young fan his checkered flag

One example: Following a win in the September Xfinity Series race at Dover International Speedway, Blaney gave the checkered flag to a young fan, who later came down to Victory Lane at the “Monster Mile.”

“I feel like those little things that you can do to get face-to-face with young fans and making a moment and give them something and just make a memory that lasts a lifetime,” Blaney said.

Having interaction with fans was something ingrained in Blaney as a child from watching his father and fellow racer, Dave Blaney.

“My dad was always very open to fans and I appreciated that about him,” Blaney said. “He was always very welcoming to fans.

“NASCAR doesn’t exist without fans, people who are interested in it. Anything we can do to show appreciation I feel like is part of our job to do it. Whatever we can do to show them a good time or an experience unlike what they expected is something that really sticks with people for life.”

RELATED: Ryan Blaney through the years

Dale Earnhardt Jr., a 15-time NMPA Most Popular Driver Award winner, has frequently cited and praised Blaney for his creative approach to helping the sport grow.

“I’d rather make other people happy than myself,” Blaney said of saying “yes” to numerous appearances. “And if I have to sacrifice time, it’s just time. It really doesn’t mean much to me personally. I’d rather go do something meaningful to the sport than just sit on my couch because then I just don’t feel like I’m doing anything.

“There’s always more you can do. You are never maxed out on your potential to make somebody’s day.”

Posted on January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 by Brad Norman

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Sorry if I’m not looking at you, I’m putting my shirts up online.”

That’s how Ryan Truex began his interview at Wednesday’s NASCAR Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway.

A new ride in a new series called for a new shirt (Dale Jr. has already confirmed he ordered it), but he didn’t have much time to pull the design together. Up until a few weeks ago, Truex wasn’t even sure he would be driving in 2018. At least not until he inked a deal with Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series.

“In December, I honestly didn’t have anything,” Truex said. “There were a lot of talks and a lot of things going on, but nothing set in stone. Nothing I could talk about. So … it’s come along really quick. Honesty, I’m really, really excited about it.”

The moment you’ve all been waiting for…@Ryan_Truex debuts his new shirt for the 2018 season. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/gUQRx8QBUs

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) January 24, 2018

Truex wasn’t convinced the deal would come through until the moment he signed the contract with Kaluig Racing the night before the announcement Jan. 9. Despite dubbing himself “pessimistic” when it comes to aspects of his career, he never doubted that if given the right opportunity, in the right equipment, he could make some noise.

“It’s because I love it,” he said. “This is what I want to do in life, it’s what I feel like I’m best at in life. I want to prove that to everyone who doesn’t think that. I know what I can do, I know what I’m capable of.”

Having a brother like Martin Truex Jr. — who also battled and clawed his way to a championship at the sport’s highest level — to lean on has helps ease Truex’s mind when hit with obstacles on and off the track. It gives him hope … and a different outlook on how to take the bad with the good.

“It’s made it a lot easier for me,” Truex said. “The stuff that I’ve dealt with is nothing compared to what (Martin) and Sherry (Pollex) and all those people (have) dealt with. It puts it in perspective. I can sit around and complain about not having sponsorship or getting overlooked for opportunities or whatever. Once you see him lose his Cup ride and not even know if he’d race anymore … to see Sherry battle through everything. That kind of put it all in perspective for me.”

Both brothers grew up around garages across the country, putting in long hours and working hard for every opportunity afforded to them. Even with a 12-year age gap between Ryan and Martin — Ryan turns 26 in March — the younger Truex always had eyes to follow in his big brother’s footsteps.

This season, Ryan Truex will pilot the No. 11 Chevrolet for Kaluig Racing as a full-time Xfinity driver, his first time competing at that level since 2015, when he had four Xfinity starts. The opportunity, he said, surprised him, despite his ninth-place finish in the 2017 Camping World Truck Series standings.

He has a plan for his approach to this season to minimize pressure and nerves: he’s just going to get behind the wheel and drive.

“… You never know. I know Martin says this a lot: ‘You never know when your last race or your last good opportunity is going to be,’ ” Truex said. “Before this past year, I thought mine was already gone. I thought it had come and gone. Now, I feel like it’s here again. … Honestly, I feel things are going in the right direction. … I guess it’ll work out or it’ll be my farewell tour.”

Posted on January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 by Team Release

WELCOME, N.C. — Richard Childress Racing announced its No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro SS entry for the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series will feature a talented multi-driver lineup. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon, ARCA Racing Series competitor Shane Lee, second-generation racer Jeb Burton and two-time Xfinity Series winner Brendan Gaughan will all share time behind the wheel of the Camaro SS throughout the season.

Austin and Ty Dillon will be in the rotation of drivers for the No. 3 Chevrolet for the 2018 season. Austin Dillon is no stranger to the Xfinity Series, earning the series championship in 2013. The eldest Dillon brother has 17 career poles awards, eight wins, 62 top-five and 99 top-10 finishes in the Series throughout his racing career. Ty Dillon, also an Xfinity veteran, has collected four poles, 32 top-five and 86 top-10 finishes. He won at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014.

Shane Lee, a 24-year-old native of Newton, North Carolina, will share seat time as he makes his Xfinity Series debut this season. In 2017, Lee completed his first season of full-time competition in the ARCA Racing Series and placed third in the driver championship point standings. He also has three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts under his belt.

Jeb Burton, son of former Cup Series driver and Daytona 500 champion Ward Burton, will also climb into the Camaro SS for select races. Burton has a 2013 Camping World Truck Series win on his resume along with seven top-five and 19 top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series. He is the nephew of former RCR driver Jeff Burton and has also logged laps in Monster Energy Series competition.

The 2018 season also will see the return of veteran driver Brendan Gaughan, marking his seventh year of competition with RCR. After scaling back from full-time competition at the end of 2017, Gaughan will return to race at two of his favorite race tracks, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 11th and Elkhart Lake’s Road America on August 25th. During his Xfinity career, Gaughan has earned two top-10 finishes at Mid-Ohio and has scored a win and four top-five finishes at Road America.

“Our goal with the multi-driver Chevrolet Camaro SS is to win races and put ourselves in a position to be in the NASCAR Playoffs at the end if the season to compete for the owner’s championship,” said Richard Childress, Chairman and CEO of RCR.

The multi-driver Chevrolet Camaro SS will compete in all 33 races of the series season. Veteran crew chief Nick Harrison will lead the team from atop the pit box.

Posted on January 23, 2018January 24, 2018 by Reid Spencer

MORE: Best quotes from 2018 Media Tour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – They call him “Grandpa” now.

That’s how Alex Bowman and William Byron referred to seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson on Tuesday afternoon at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Chase Elliott, the third of Johnson’s 20-something Hendrick Motorsports teammates, let him slide with “Uncle Jimmie.”

“OK, that’s a little bit better,” Johnson laughed. “So I guess I’m going to have to put them in time-out or something, the way that’s going. We definitely have a lot of fun together. It’s so wild. I went from the young gun. … and every time I saw my name written, it was ‘rookie Jimmie Johnson.’

“And I swear, in the blink of an eye, now I’m ‘Grandpa.’ It’s gone fast.”

Johnson, who won his last championship in 2016, has three years left on his contract with Hendrick Motorsports. Crew chief Chad Knaus, who has been with his driver for all seven of his titles, is in the final year of a deal Johnson hopes he’ll extend.

But that doesn’t add urgency to Johnson’s desire to win an eighth title that would separate him from seven-time champions and NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The urgency has always been there.

“That doesn’t change anything,” Johnson said during the opening day of the NASCAR Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway. “My desire to be competitive, my desire to be a champion, my desire to win races has never wavered. That’s who I am. That’s what I am.

“I’m excited to have all this new stuff going on around us — from rules, internally at Hendrick, the new car (Chevrolet Camaro), my teammates. … I’m taking a notebook and pen everywhere I go, because everywhere I look, there’s something to learn, and that’s exciting.”

When Johnson won his fourth championship in 2009, veteran Hendrick teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon finished right behind him in the final standings. They knew the car thoroughly, and their feedback was unfailingly reliable.

Elliott is the “veteran” of the neophytes with two years in a Hendrick car. Bowman has spent 10 races in a top-of-the-line Monster Energy Series car, all subbing for injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2016, in addition to logging abundant hours in the simulator and wheel-force car.

Byron hasn’t raced a Monster Energy car yet, though he and crew chief Darian Grubb will get their first track time at a Las Vegas test Jan. 31-Feb. 1.

MORE: Johnson’s new No. 48 paint scheme; new looks for 2018

So much for experience — but Johnson is a glass-half-full kind of guy.

“I choose to see the positives that come with it,” Johnson said. “So, out of the gate, just knowing young guys and their raw desire to go fast, there’s a lot that we’ll be able to take away from there. And I think it’s going to be important for me to understand their language and how they describe things, and then understand how to put that into how I describe a car, the sensations I’m looking for.

“Their effort level is going to be really high, so we might get some inconsistent feedback getting started until they can dial in at 100 percent and identify with that. But I’m excited for a fresh perspective. I find myself going in a cycle of looking at what worked in different years, from a driver’s standpoint, and there’s only a few things we can do to really be prepared.

“In talking with William, just as an example, he thinks that driving an RC (radio-control) car and seeing it from a different perspective and working on your hand-eye coordination from that vantage point is helpful. I’ve never thought of that. I probably haven’t driven an RC car since I was his age.”

But that just goes to show it’s never too late for a Grandpa to learn new tricks — and perhaps to win a title along with it.

Posted on January 23, 2018January 24, 2018 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: ThorSport partners with Ford

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In his early days in NASCAR racing, Matt Crafton was a Ford driver.

In 2000, Crafton won two races and the NASCAR Southwest Series championship driving the No. 46 Ford, the same make and car number his father, Danny Crafton, used in the series.

When he transitioned to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series a year later, however, Matt Crafton found himself behind the wheel of Duke Thorson’s No. 88 Chevrolet—and he lost a fan.

“In my old Southwest Tour days in 1997, I started racing a Ford out west, and that’s all my dad has ever owned and raced,” Crafton said during NASCAR Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway. “He always said whenever I first started racing another manufacturer, ‘I don’t know if I can root for you, because I’ve only driven a Ford and you’ve only driven a Ford.’ ”

RELATED: Driver, team changes for 2018

In 2012, ThorSport Racing switched to Toyota, and Crafton followed with back-to-back championship seasons in 2013 and 2014.

But to this day, he has never driven a Ford in Truck Series competition — until this year. Crafton found out last week that ThorSport had struck a deal with Ford Performance to run F150s in the series this year.

“So now I’ve got a new fan in my dad,” Crafton quipped.

Posted on January 23, 2018January 24, 2018 by Zack Albert

MORE: Alonso soaks up Rolex 24 excitement | Scott Pruett to retire after Rolex 24

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Grand Prix star Fernando Alonso’s first encounter with seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson was a virtual one, some 15 years ago.

“The first time I heard his name, it was probably 2003, 2004 in the NASCAR video game,” Alonso says. “I used to choose him, not knowing him or not knowing the name — just because the car.”

Tuesday, the two legends from different motorsports disciplines met in person, in conjunction with the two-time Formula One champion’s visit to the NASCAR Media Tour. In the years since Alonso’s first exposure to the stock-car world, the 36-year-old Spaniard has come to appreciate Johnson’s accomplishments, beyond just a snazzy look to his No. 48 Chevrolet.

“That was the first time,” Alonso says, “and obviously the success that he had in the years in motor racing, he became a legend of our sport, and massive respect.”

The admiration was mutual from Johnson’s side.

“I’ve been a huge Alonso fan for a lot of years,” Johnson said. “Just mentioned to him out there that the way he came and ran Indy — and certainly did an amazing job in the car, but outside of the car — the friends I have on the IndyCar circuit, he just handled himself so well, did a great job, and really brought a lot to the table when he raced here. His worldwide exposure in motorsports is really good for us here state-side.”

Alonso met the press ahead of his first start in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the endurance kickoff this weekend for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He’ll be sharing the driving duties in the No. 23 United Autosports Ligier LMP2 for his first competition at Daytona International Speedway.

The Rolex appearance is Alonso’s latest diversion from his Formula One career. He made his first Indianapolis 500 start last May, wowing the crowd by leading 27 laps before engine failure derailed his first IndyCar effort. The natural question, as Alonso dipped his toe Tuesday into the NASCAR media rounds: Is stock-car racing next on his exploration list?

“Now I’m going to endurance racing in a closed cockpit, so maybe one day try a different series and maybe even NASCAR, no? Why not?” Alonso said. “Right now, it looks quite far because I think the driving technique and the experience that all those guys have, it’s quite difficult for me to achieve that level, but I will never know until I try. So I would like maybe one day to test the car and after that, driving the car, I would know how enjoyable it could be in racing.”

For now, Alonso’s only taste has been through video games and simulator racing, an experience that hasn’t quite given him a favorite track on the NASCAR circuit.

“To be honest, I cannot pick up one,” Alonso said. “I think the Daytona 500 is one race that I watch on television as well, not only on the video games because it’s an iconic race that all the world is following that weekend in NASCAR.

“What I like about the racing in NASCAR is how unpredictable it is and until the last lap, everyone is pushing each other and they’re trying to manage the strategy and think ahead of what is going to happen in the last lap, even 20 laps ahead. That’s something that is unique in motorsport, what NASCAR does. From the outside, it is very attractive. But from the inside, I don’t know in the cockpit how it would feel.”

Posted on January 23, 2018January 25, 2018 by Reid Spencer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On February 18, in the 2018 Daytona 500, Danica Patrick will drive a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car for the 191st time.

It will also be the last.

Last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a tearful Patrick announced she would end her driving career with the “Danica Double” — final appearances in both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500.

Patrick confirmed on Monday she will drive the No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet fielded by Premium Motorsports in her stock car swan song. Both the car number and sponsor harken to her NASCAR debut.

Patrick will leave stock car racing disappointed with a record that includes no victories or top fives and seven top 10s in her first 190 starts in NASCAR’s top series.

On the other hand, she will take with her the memory of a pole position for the 2013 running of the Great American Race and a career-best fourth-place finish in the NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Las Vegas in 2011.

With her seven top 10s in the Monster Energy Series, Patrick is tied with Janet Guthrie for most ever by a female driver.

But former Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick reiterated on Tuesday during NASCAR Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway something he had expressed a few years earlier — that Patrick had begun her career in stock cars at a disadvantage to more experienced drivers and had little prospect of closing the gap.

“You know, this is a conversation that I had with her,” Harvick said. “I had 20 years on her when she started in a stock car. That is experience, and the things that come with that, you are never going to make up that ground. As long as I’m still racing, I’m going to be 20 years ahead regardless. I think it never is going to be easy to go from (IndyCars to NASCAR) if you are going to be at the top level of that sport for a long time because the cars are …

“I have never driven an IndyCar, but based on everything I’ve heard, the characteristics and how you drive them are 180-degrees different. It has been very hard for a lot of the open-wheel guys to come over here and drive these (3,300-pound) cars. It’s the total opposite of everything they have been taught their whole lives.

In Harvick’s opinion, the career path a driver chooses at an early age is a good predictor of performance in the respective disciplines.

“A lot of the kids we have coming up through our ranks now have been in stock cars since they were 12 or 13 years old,” said the 2014 series champion. “It’s much different. I think you have to pick a path. If you want to race open-wheel cars and do those things, it’s probably going to be carts and into an open wheel series.

“There are very few people that have been able to do them both. Tony Stewart and (Juan Pablo) Montoya have done it the best in my opinion. Might be somebody else I am missing. But there have been a lot that have tried.”

Posted on January 23, 2018January 23, 2018 by Zack Albert

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 2018 schedule for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has made a slight shuffle to the general sense of order, especially in and around the 10-race playoffs. For former series champ Kevin Harvick, an even more thorough shuffling would suit him just fine.

Harvick’s wide-ranging discussion of the schedule was part of a wide-ranging media availability Tuesday during the NASCAR Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The 42-year-old driver for Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 Ford team talked pit stops, the impact of Danica Patrick in NASCAR and his second calling as a radio host on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. But he spent the most time Tuesday offering a comprehensive examination of the stock-car racing calendar.

“Do you really want to get me started on schedules?” Harvick said with a devilish grin. After some nodding from reporters, away he went.

NASCAR competition officials made key changes to the Monster Energy Series schedule this season, among them were moving Indianapolis Motor Speedway to the regular-season finale in September, followed by Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the playoffs opener. The postseason also gets an additional short track in Richmond Raceway and its first road course with a modified oval-infield layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Round of 16 — all moves that Harvick noted as positives.

“The one thing that I do like about this season is the fact that the schedule is changing,” Harvick said. “You see Richmond in the playoffs, you see Indy in a date that the fans can actually sit in the grandstands without burning their rear ends off, you see the Charlotte road course. It’s just like the road course: If we don’t ever run the road course again, think about all the conversation that it has created. If you did it every year, it would just be another race.

“Those are the types of things that we need to create. We need to create events; we need to create moments.”

If he was granted a magic pen to craft more schedule adjustments, Harvick said he’d go further. That included a possible rotation of the series’ championship race from Homestead-Miami Speedway, which has hosted the season finale since 2002.

“I think it gets stale. It’s a great race track, but it’s not at all about the race track. It’s really about the event,” Harvick says. “How many times have you had a crappy Super Bowl, but everybody goes to the Super Bowl because it’s an event. And those are the types of things that we need to create. I love how we’re starting to mix it up; I think we need to mix it up more. Going to Vegas for the first race of the playoffs is a good move from a market standpoint. It’s a great race track, but the market in itself is something that you have to pay attention to. If you’re going to some of these places and the market is stale, I think all these race tracks should have the opportunity to have one race in the playoffs.”

Some of Harvick’s other proposals included giving tracks in the midst of major renovation projects the option to lease their race dates to other facilities, which would give other markets an audience and speed up the construction process at their own venue. The move would potentially create another wild-card event on the calendar.

Harvick acknowledged that there were some constraints presented by the five-year sanctioning agreement for the 23 Monster Energy Series tracks that continues through the 2020 season. But he added that opportunities exist for ingenuity within those boundaries.

“I think there are things there that you could get creative and really mix it up,” Harvick says. “People don’t like the same thing. You have to keep their attention. It can’t just be about the cars racing on the race track and if you have to have a good race. They are not all going to be good. If you make the schedule exciting and make the events exciting, that is what guarantees you the people to come back if they had a good time.”

Posted on January 23, 2018June 16, 2021 by @KESELOWSKI

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Denny Hamlin-Chase Elliott incidents that transpired at Martinsville Speedway and ISM Raceway in Phoenix toward the end of last season prompted Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson to tell SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Jan. 12 that he thought it “shortened (Elliott’s) fuse and got him to a point where he felt like he was being … taken advantage of.”

Elliott, 22, addressed his crew chief’s comments on Tuesday at NASCAR Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway, as the series readies to kick off its 2018 season with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.

“I think there were times, not just in that situation, that I was a little taken advantage of in how I race people and maybe with too much respect at times, and I think that’s what he was getting at with that comment,” Elliott said. “And I do think there was probably some truth to that.

“So, at some point, you either stand up for yourself or you continue to get taken advantage of. I’d rather choose Option A over B.”

Now in his junior season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Elliott later spoke on racing drivers differently looking at it from the perspective of a rookie, young driver coming into the sport.

MORE: Sponsor re-ups with Elliott for three years | Chase tests Camaro ZL1 at Texas

“Every circumstance is going to be different,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. “It could be something small, it could be a restart at a certain point in the race and you know the guy’s going to try to take you three-wide just because of who you are.

“So, at some point in time, if you stop that from happening enough, he’s probably going to think twice about doing it to you. I think that’s just what goes around, comes around, and if you stop someone from taking advantage of you enough, they probably won’t do it anymore.”

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Staff Report

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Danica Patrick will be on track together again in less than a month at Daytona Speedweeks, but for the first time since the two announced in December that they had ended their five-year relationship.

Questions persisted when the two began dating on how they’d race each other on the track. On Tuesday at the NASCAR Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway, Stenhouse addressed if it will be different this time around.

“I don’t think I’ll race any differently,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I try to respect everybody around me, especially at speedway races. You don’t want to put somebody in a bad spot because you’ll put everybody in a bad spot. I’ll go out and race just like I’m racing everybody else and see how it plays out.

“Heck, when we first started racing we got in crashes anyway,” he added with a laugh. “So it is what it is. I’ll just go compete as hard as I can. I plan on putting myself in position to win the race.”

Patrick announced in November that she was retiring from full-time competition after the 2017 season, following five years at Stewart-Haas Racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

At the time, she said she hoped to compete in both the 2018 Daytona 500 and 2018 Indianapolis 500, which she coined the “Danica Double.” Since then, Patrick has confirmed that she is now dating Green Bay Packers Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers and that she’s locked in her Daytona 500 plans — she’ll drive the Premium Motorsports GoDaddy No. 7 Chevrolet, with Tony Eury Jr. serving as crew chief.

“It was just a matter of time,” Stenhouse said of Patrick’s Daytona 500 plans. “Like I’ve always said, I think it’s a cool way to retire. For somebody who’s done the Daytona 500, run in NASCAR, run in IndyCar, I think it’ll be cool for (her) to hit the two biggest races of the year.”