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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 11: Danica Patrick, driver of the #7 GoDaddy Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 11: Danica Patrick, driver of the #7 GoDaddy Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
Back in 2013, Danica Patrick made history, as she became the first woman to win the pole in NASCAR. And that win was nowhere other than the iconic Daytona International Speedway. She was on route to becoming the first woman to win the Daytona 500.
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However, it was the Seven-Time Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson who eventually took the win. As per Skip Bayless, commentator on the ESPN2 show First Take, there was someone to blame for Danica’s loss and surprisingly, it was not her.
Bayless blamed all the drivers for not helping Danica to win and compared it to Tiger Woods’ actions!
“If I’m another driver, I, thinking the Tiger Woods effect. Tiger Woods elevated golf, and made multi-millionaires of the top-50 golfers, because he put it on the Nashville map.”
Skip Bayless suggests other NASCAR drivers should have "stepped up" to "help" Danica Patrick win the Daytona 500 in order to elevate the sport with "the Tiger Woods effect." (February 25, 2013) pic.twitter.com/oYhahW5rjO
— Crazy-ass moments in First Take history (@CrazyFTMoments) August 22, 2022
“But Danica, if she had won this event, it would be extraordinarily beneficial to all the other drivers in NASCAR. So, I’m saying, wouldn’t they have discussed that?”
Bayless then spoke with the perspective of a driver, “She’s the pole sitter, so maybe we should give her an equal opportunity here. If she can hang and be third, with 2 laps to go. One of us should step up and say, ‘Here, let me help you.”
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Unfortunately, Patrick didn’t exactly find much success in the race.
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Patrick won the pole, making history in NASCAR. And she put herself in the perfect position to take the victory and leave her mark in history as the first woman to do so. However, Jimmie Johnson took that away from her.
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 14: Driver Danica Patrick poses during portraits for the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
She couldn’t lead the race from the start. Surprisingly, this was the first race as a full-time driver in the Cup Series, and she sure started it at a big high. Although she did not win the race, she finished a respectable P8.
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Even though she didn’t win a race in her Cup Seris career, Patrick did leave her mark on the sport. And her name will be remembered by NASCAR and IndyCar fans for a long time.
Written by
Edited by
Ranvijay Singh