Danica Patrick already had her “homecoming” race, at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, back in September. She grew up in Roscoe, Ill., about 116 miles north and west of the 1.5-mile oval. Phoenix International Raceway, the mile oval that will celebrate its 50th year of competition in 2014, is her second home. Danica Patrick owns a home in Scottsdale, Ariz., but more importantly, the region is home to Patrick’s longtime sponsor, GoDaddy.
GoDaddy and Danica Patrick have been together since 2007 and navigated Patrick’s transition from IndyCar to NASCAR. In addition, Danica Patrick has appeared in a record 12 Super Bowl commercials for GoDaddy, and it was recently announced that Patrick will participate in a 13th spot in February’s broadcast of the game on FOX. GoDaddy will air two spots during the game with Danica Patrick appearing in one of them.
It was also announced that this ad will not have the typical Go Daddy raunch and raciness. There will be no skimpy clothes and sexiness in this Go Daddy ad; for a change.
With that as a backdrop, Danica Patrick hopes to put on a good show for the many GoDaddy executives, employees and customers who will be in attendance at Sunday’s AdvoCare 500k Sprint Cup race at Phoenix.
The thoughts of Danica Patrick heading into Phoenix?
“We had a good run there last fall and got wrecked on the last lap. We were OK in the spring and cut a tire midway through and wrecked. I think it’d be nice to get out of Phoenix without destroying a racecar (laughs). Both accidents did a lot of damage to the cars so, to go the distance and finish clean would be a good thing (laughs). I feel good about it. I’ve always liked Phoenix. Tony (Gibson, crew chief) has won some races there and knows how to set up a car for that place. So I feel confident going in. I’m looking forward to it.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the world; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS