DANICA RETURNING TO INDY 500 AS TV PUNDIT

Danica Patrick returns to Indy 500 as TV pundit – Photo: LAT

Fast femme Danica Patrick always spoke her mind as a driver and promises to provide the same candour as a TV analyst for the 103rd Indianapolis 500 at the end of May.

By PHILLIP B WILSON/IndyCar.com

Patrick, who retired from racing at the end of last year, will join American network NBC’s coverage of the May 27 (AEST) Indy 500, which will be shown here on Fox Sports.

She made her name in the IndyCar Series and the 500 before switching to the NASCAR Cup Series with notably less success.

Her return to Indy as a broadcaster coincides with NBC’s first telecast of “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing”, ending rival network ABC’s long run.

Patrick plans to be herself when she joins expat Aussie race caller Leigh Diffey on NBC’s Indy 500 commentary team, adding observations and insights.

“Oh, yes, can’t change my stripes,” the diminutive dynamo said with a chuckle. “I think I’ll have some extra insight and understand some storylines better.

“As a driver, you don’t really care about the rest of them, you just want to beat them. As someone who is paying attention to the storylines going on and the drivers individually, and hearing the stories and watching them unfold, there will probably be more sensitivity.

“But, at the same time, I won’t be afraid to call out the subtleties that exist on track that perhaps the viewer or someone who hasn’t been on track would know. [For example], the way that the air moves from car to car, behind and alongside and in front, and how you can manipulate other cars based on your line and the little things that you do.

“I’ve definitely watched plenty of racing and commentary on it. I can watch it and see what’s happening and they’re like ‘Well, he didn’t touch him’ – and I’m like, he didn’t have to. I understand how it works.”

Then she reassured: “Don’t worry, I won’t be afraid to give my opinion.”

Patrick, the only woman to win an IndyCar Series race, will provide pre-race, in-race and post-race insights. She will also be part of NBC’s Indy 500 qualifications broadcast on May 19 and will assist in promoting the race across NBCUniversal’s platforms leading up to race day.

The Indianapolis 500 is special for the seven-year NTT IndyCar Series veteran, who burst onto the national scene as a rookie in 2005, when she became the first woman to lead a lap of the famed 500.

She finished fourth, was named rookie of the year and appeared on the cover of ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine the following week.

Her IndyCar highlight came when she triumphed in the Indy Japan 300 in 2008. Her NASCAR resume included being the first woman to win the pole for the Daytona 500 in 2013.

She retired last season after completing the “Danica Double,” racing in the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 in the same year.

Patrick, who will turn 37 on Monday, is ever mindful and appreciative of the role her first Indy 500 played in boosting her career.

“Every time I come to Indianapolis, especially when I come to the track itself, and I drive through the tunnel and I come in and I can see the Pagoda, and I can just feel the track,” she said. “I always have.

“I’ve always had a deep respect for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as your best and worst friend. It’s the track that we would go the very fastest on. We were threading the needle a lot of the time.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have some really great races there. Really, the Indy 500 is where it all started for me as a well-known race car driver – or what was called back in the day ‘Danica Mania’.

“If I was going to be a part of a broadcast, the Indy 500 tops the list. It’s somewhere I feel like, again I say this a lot, but it feels like home. There’s so much deep history there for me.

“Then I have like this other perspective of home. My whole family lives there, my sister, my parents, they all live in Indianapolis.”

Patrick had six top 10 finishes in seven tries at Indy, including a best of third in 2009.

Sam Flood, executive producer and president of production for NBC Sports, wanted someone who is “fearless” in and out of the car to bolster the commentary team and Patrick fits the bill.

And when her time comes to provide insight, she assures fans that she’ll be ready to punch her points, Danica-style.

“Anyone that’s listened to me for too, too long knows I don’t have [role models] because I think the worst mistake [is trying] to be like somebody else,”

Patrick said. “Being me will be what makes me good, if I can deliver that in a nice way in a good package.

“You can’t be anyone else.”

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