Catchfence

Danica Patrick returns to NASCAR for her seventh Nationwide Series start this weekend, attempting a Dover track that has proven difficult even for drivers with many years of stock-car experience.

So far, Danica – who has been the face of Dover’s billboard campaign promoting the races this weekend – has a top finish of 24th despite JR Motorsports co-owner Kelley Earnhardt setting a goal of running top-15s this season.

Danica called her season so far “emotional, because I’ve had to deal with not having the results I’d like” both in IndyCar and NASCAR.

In particular, she said, “NASCAR has been a humbling experience.”

“I think at the beginning of the year, Dale Jr. and Kelley and Tony (Eury) Jr., they said top-15s,” Danica said Friday morning. “And I guess that’s probably true. I thought I was hopefully going to be able to do better than that.

“The offseason testing went really well. But then you put all the elements out there and you don’t get a full day of track time and you find yourself really learning and not having enough time to get up to speed like you want to.”

Therein lies the entire problem with Danica’s program: She’s in way over her head in the Nationwide Series and should have done a year of ARCA or the K&N Pro East Series before trying Nationwide.

To use a baseball analogy: She’s an A-level talent competing at the AAA level. This doesn’t happen in other sports, no matter how great the hype (the Washington Nationals didn’t rush Stephen Strasburg to the upper levels until he was ready).

And at times, it doesn’t happen in NASCAR, either.

- SB Nation