Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Two good things happened for the women’s movement in NASCAR on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Danica Patrick was running a respectable 17th in her final Nationwide Series race before taking a 2½-month hiatus to resume her IndyCar Series career next weekend when she smacked the wall with 52 laps remaining. She ended up 33rd.
Jennifer Jo Cobb walked away from her car about five minutes before the start of the Nationwide Series race after being told she would have to park the car early.
Both earned respect, particularly Cobb for not accepting just being a part of the show for a paycheck.
“It feels like such a ‘Jerry Maguire’ moment,” Cobb said in a release. “There were rumblings all week about us start-and-parking this race. I have a commitment to my sponsors, my fans, NASCAR that I won’t start-and-park. I’m very serious about my career and my performance, and I’ve worked hard to prove it to everyone.
“The conversation [to park] was never had with me until 10 minutes before the race that I was to start-and-park.”
What happens to Cobb we don’t know. But we do know that Patrick will return to the Nationwide Series for the June 4 race at Chicagoland and others as she continues to learn the sport.
“I’m just disappointed,” Patrick told an ESPN TV reporter after her run-in with Ryan Truex ended her day. “It was a pretty decent run at Bristol for the first time. I don’t think it was too bad. It’s just disappointing I didn’t get to finish.”
Patrick doesn’t make it a point to check out a track the day before she is scheduled to practice, but she made an exception Thursday at Bristol.
“I thought I needed to go see this place first just to sleep on the visual of it,” she said.
The high banks of Bristol are like nothing Patrick will see in the IndyCar Series. They can be intimidating for a veteran, much less a first-timer like Patrick, but she handled it well.
WRITTEN BY David Newton & FULL STORY HERE
