CONCORD, N.C. – Danica Patrick made no secret of the fact she wanted to try and do the “double” – both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 – this year.
Ultimately, though, it didn’t make sense, and the plans fell through. It was decided Patrick, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie, needed to devote as much time as possible to her stock car career instead of trying to split her time between the two.
“I really tried hard to do (the 500) this year – we all did on my (management) team,” she said Thursday. “Ultimately, it came down to the fact that it wasn’t going to help me here (in NASCAR), and this is what I’ve chosen to do now. It’s not fair to take away from it.”
Patrick spent seven full seasons in IndyCar before making the full-time jump to NASCAR last year. But when it came to the Indy 500, she repeatedly left the door open for a possible return.
Now, though, that doesn’t sound like the case. Patrick, 28th in the point standings with two lead-lap finishes in 11 races, said she has a long way to go in NASCAR and added, “I need to focus here.”
“As the years go by, (and) more and more distance goes between my full-time IndyCar career and now, it gets less and less likely,” she said.
Patrick, who had two top-five finishes in the Indy 500, said she would have liked to win but also recognized the impact it had on her life and career.
“While Indy can kind of make a driver, I feel like it is part of what made me who I am today,” she said. “So it did those things for me.”
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