Catchfence

SPEED.com open wheel reporter Robin Miller - Photo Credit: Catchfence Open Wheel Editor: Paul Powell

SPEED.com open wheel reporter Robin Miller joined Steve Byrnes on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED Thursday evening to discuss Danica Patrick, Andretti Autosport and the future of the Brickyard 400 weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Following is the transcript from the interview:

On whether rumors are true that Danica Patrick is headed to NASCAR fulltime:

Miller: “We’ve been saying for six months that she’s gone. I don’t think anyone in IndyCar thinks that she’s going to be around. I think everyone is resigned to the fact that IMG is going to take her to NASCAR. Where she lands in NASCAR, I think that’s what is going to be interesting. Tony Stewart lately has been saying, ‘I’d really like to see her come here. She’s got a lot of potential.’ I think that potential might be assigned to that GoDaddy paycheck, which is pretty big.”

On whether she has anything left to prove in IndyCar other than winning the Indianapolis 500:

Miller: “I would think so … here’s the thing that is so crazy. She came up as a road racer and she really doesn’t want to road race anymore because she wants ovals because she knows it’s her best chance to win, whether in an IndyCar or a stock car – her best chance is on an oval. She never dreamed that. When she was coming up through Atlantics and stuff, she wanted to be a kart driver and road racing was all she cared about. I always say to her, ‘Isn’t is amazing you’re always screaming you want more ovals but you were a road course driver?’ But she says, ‘Yeah, but I changed because I have a much better chance on an oval than I do a road course.’ I just think the whole thing is she still loves Indy. Bob Parsons of GoDaddy was at Indy for the first time this year and he was pretty much blown away by the crowd and the race and the atmosphere, so I think you can see something like she’ll still run the Indy 500 but she’ll be a fulltime NASCAR driver. I think that’s what’s going to happen.”

On any traction to the rumors of Andretti Autosport going to NASCAR:

Miller: “John Lopes (CFO of Andretti Autosport), who puts all their sponsorships together, said last week … I said, ‘Hey, is there anything to this rumor that you guys might be going stock car racing?’ He said, ‘We’re exploring. We’re definitely looking into it.’ So, we’ve heard that they might be connected to Roush, that they might be doing something with Ford Motor Company, but that kind of makes me wonder that Michael (Andretti) is probably not going to go with General Motors when the new engines come along next year, but everybody is assuming if Andretti goes to NASCAR, he’ll just keep Danica. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think that’s going to happen at all. They’re looking at opportunities to replace this GoDaddy money with some NASCAR money and I tell you what – that’s a huge deficit to make up when you lose somebody like GoDaddy because it’s probably the second or third biggest sponsorship in IndyCar racing and that’s going to be tough to replace.”

On rumor that the NASCAR Nationwide Series race might move from O’Reilly Raceway Park over to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other big news for the Brickyard next year:

Miller: “For the last few years, they’ve always talked about taking the Nationwide race away from O’Reilly Raceway Park. What you’ve got to look like is what is 30,000 people going to look like at the (Indianapolis Motor) speedway Saturday and that’s probably optimistic. The IRP race is one of the best on the circuit and it’s also one of the best-attended with 25 or 30,000 people. It would be a huge loss for Raceway Park to lose that race. At the same time, the speedway is thinking about maybe a Grand-Am race on Friday, like a three-hour race, then change the road course over to the oval, then you’d have Cup qualifying, you’d have the Nationwide race and Sunday you’d have the Brickyard, because right now, ticket sales are 40-percent off what they were last year and it was about half full last year … I think for a long time they were just content to leave it alone and let Raceway Park have their own race, but I think now the speedway is looking at how we’re going to get more people and keep the Brickyard weekend going.”

- SPEED, Press Release