Samples previews NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Danica’s chances
By CHUCK SAMPLES
ISL Correspondent
Jeff Gordon is on the outside of Row 1 as the Sprint Cup season begins Sunday at Daytona. No surprise there.
Danica Patrick has the pole. There’s your shocker. Maybe it shouldn’t be anymore.
Patrick, who has scuffled since transitioning from open wheel racing to the lead stock car circuit, blistered Daytona with a qualifying speed of 196.434 mph. That’s one of the fastest qualifying speeds ever at the track.
Patrick’s promise is nothing new. She was the first woman to lead laps at the Indy 500, finished third at the 500 in 2009 and became the first — and only — woman to win on that circuit in 2008.
Things have shortcircuited, though, as Patrick shifted to the Sprint Cup. Her best finish in the Cup has been 17th, and her short stock car racing career at the Sprint Cup level has been more about altercations with other drivers than milestones. The promise may be changing into reality for the GoDaddy.com star. Her Hendrick Motorsports car was one of the favorites going into Daytona qualifying, and she is already considered among the favorites for the Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year.
It’s a great moment in racing history, but Patrick needs to win a few races to solidify herself in racing’s elite.
Other storylines I’m watching for the 2013 Sprint Cup season:
1. Does Brad Keselowski make it two straight? Keselowski had enough in his tank to hold off Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer for the title last year. Is a repeat in the works, or is the hard-charging Keselowski due for a bumpier ride in 2013?
2. New vehicles for 2013. The Car of Tomorrow has retired, and now it’s time for Gen 6, which is supposed to lead to more aggressive driving. It’s also supposed to give the viewers back home a truer sense of the makes each driver is piloting. It will be very interesting to see how the car responds in traffic at the superspeedways and also at the 1.5-milers.
3. MWR. The team had an excellent year in its first season. Is the sophomore jinx ahead?
4. Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer. Gordon’s intentional wrecking of Bowyer at Miami ended any hope Bowyer had of winning, and all indications are the temperature only went down because the season was over. The two were on a cruise together over the offseason and barely acknowledged each other’s presences. Is retaliation in the works early?
Let’s go racing.
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