After starting 12th, Danica finishes 12th for the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway yesterday. I was there to watch, listen and root her on. Early in the race, Danica was complaining the car was loose and bumpy going through turn 1 and into turn 2. She dropped back to the mid-pack through the first 50 laps into the race. Then she turned it on after the first round of pit stops. Halfway through the race, Danica loses a mirror that covered the left side of the car and had to rely on her spotter. It is known that Danica always had issues with restarts, even during her time driving in Indycar. But the broken mirror didn't help that situation, especially on restarts where she had to start on the outside lane. Still, halfway through the race, she was one of the fastest cars out there and got up to the 6th position.
After a caution came out with about 35 laps to go, the decision was made to have her pit to cover fuel mileage in case of a green-white checker finish. She was 10th. Due to a bad restart and the broken mirror, she fell back a few spots to 15th, but at the end started to get real fast and pass cars. There weren't enough laps left to catch the the top ten and finished 12th.
At the end of the race, Danica said over the radio she was "kinda pissed off" she didn't finish in the top 10 and that she thanked the team for great pit stops. She also promised crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr., she would work on her restarts and learn to communicate better on what the car's technical needs should be. It was a very good effort by all this weekend and a positive move forward for the team since the tough start this season.
As for my experience this weekend, it was a bit interesting. Yeah, I got to meet Danica...again. And yeah, I enjoyed the Neon Garage, made new friends, drank a lot of beer, and ate really crappy food. Heck, I even got heckled a bit for being a fan of Danica (since I was wearing the #7 GoDaddy team pit crew shirt). But one observation had me really vexed. For a sport / series that is NASCAR to boast on how loyal their fans are (and they most certainly are), it surprises me how little of the actual race these same fans seem to watch when they are at the track. I was glued to my spot with beer in hand the entire race, listening to both the stadium speakers and the rented headset to listen to Danica's race communications. A lot of people asked me how did Danica do. Some even had to ask me who won. Really?! Weren't you there, too?!
I know there are stereotypes when it comes to NASCAR fans. And it is unfortunate, some of these stereotypes are true. But it's good to see NASCAR is making strides to not only evolve as a sport, but help their fan base try and evolve with them and create all new fans. It took a while for the "good ol' boys" of the South to accept drivers from other regions of the country as equals. It's going to take a while for old fans to accept a Danica Patrick, a Juan Pablo Montoya, or a Marcos Ambrose until they start winning races and championships like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who at the start of their careers, were hated for being California boys. With all this said, I leave you with a joke a supposed "hardcore NASCAR fan" told me yesterday: "How many Mexicans does it take to blow up a jet dryer? Juan." Really?!
