What a difference a week makes. After her dad was seen hanging with paint-traders of NASCAR and complaining to not have NASCAR-type luxuries like a private plane, Danica! has changed her tune.

Now her talk of NASCAR is in the past tense, and the not-so-near future tense.

“I wouldn't say it was that big of a chance (of going) next year, but I'd say it's a fairly larger chance in the future," she said Tuesday from Los Angeles.”

And here I was hoping she could trade paint with a Richard Petty Racing car in the near future, for obvious reasons.

Just curious, but what was she doing in Los Angeles? She’s got a race in Nashville this weekend.

This is just an idea, but…the IRL schedule ends 9/10 in Chicago, but the NASCAR Busch series runs until 11/18. It’s entirely possible that Danica! – or any other IRL driver – could spend a few weeks testing and perhaps get entries for the final 3 Busch series races in Texas, Phoenix, and Miami. Those three are all tracks the IRL has raced (they pulled out of Phoenix this year), and driving in Busch would give a driver a feel for the car without having to contend at the highest level of the Nextel Cup.

But what do I know? I’m just some dude with a computer.

"I think Danica's pretty aggressive in our cars...I mean, you know especially if you catch her at the right time of the month, she might be trading plenty of paint out there." - Ed Carpenter George

Proving not only can he not drive ineffectively, ECG opened his mouth to demonstrate he is also unable to productively speak as well. Is this guy a sponsor's nightmare or what?

At least Danica! had the wherewithall to take the comment in stride.

"That sounds like a good joke to me, it's pretty funny to me...No big deal. Ed is a really nice guy. There's no drama there. I think it's funny. I'm glad he's showing some personality."

Ouch.

"We've got two guys racing and two guys driving for a paycheck" - unnamed Andretti Green team member.

It doesn't take a race analyst to realize the two guys "driving for a paycheck" are Mr Judd and Bryan Herta (always the forgotten member of the AGR quadruplets). Herta's and Franchitti each have a mere 3 top 10s in 8 races this year with Franchitti having the highest finish with a 3rd place finish in Richmond.

Meanwhile, Kanaan has been no worse than 11th in all but one race.

Andretti 3.0 has the veryclose 2nd at Indy and a 4th place at Richmond, but has not finished better than 9th in any other races. Mechanical failures - reportedly due to his own mistakes - doomed him in his first two races, and he suffered an accident with Old Man Cheever at the Glen, but for the most part he has been a rookie driver learning to drive over 200 MPH.

Statistics for finishes aside, it isn't a stretch to believe the comment. Anyone watching the races can tell you only Kanaan and Andretti have been driving with intent to pass. But to see a quote like that tells you there is a rising level of frustration at all levels of the team. Perhaps it is not so much at the drivers as the inability to compete with the Penske and Ganassi teams, who between them have accounted for all 2006 IRL wins.

It is the All-Star break and baseball teams are negotiating midseason trades, cuts and acquisitions to help their outlook for the remainder of the season. IRL teams are doing the same thing.

Ryan Briscoe will be replacing Buddy Lazier (that's the Lazier that can actually drive) for the remainder of the season in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing vehicle.

Also, AJ Foyt has given walking papers to Felipe Giaffone. A replacement has not yet been named, but I head Buddy Lazier is available.

Additionally, the Helmegarn "Car-melo" team so widely touted before the season is now defunct. Apparently Carmelo Anthony was just a showpiece to attract sponsorship...that never came. PJ Chesson and his tattoos have not raced since wrecking early at Indy, in case you didn't notice.

Today’s lesson should be entitled “Never underestimate the power of opportunism”. We actually saw this demonstrated this last year – for umpteenth time – when speculation was rampant that Boulder Dan Wheldon would bolt the IRL in favor of Formula One, or even NASCAR. Why would he do that when he was on top of the IRL world? Two words: cashing in.

So while you might think that all is right in the world of Danica!, TJ Patrick (her father/manager/bus driver/oracle) has a decidedly different view. None too pleased that his daughter has spent the year driving sub-par equipment, TJ spent his weekend in Chicago. And not just because it’s outside his hometown of Roscoe, Illinois; no TJ was talking up his daughter and gauging interest from the many NASCAR teams gathered for the Sheetrock 400. Specifically, he was talking with Roush Racing.

Bobby Rahal is no doubt concerned, since Danica!’s contract expires at the end of this season.

On the one hand, I have a hard time thinking this is much more than leverage against possible IRL suitors. She’s made her name in the IRL, and she’s basically driven to the capabilities of her equipment. If she could find herself driving for Penske, Ganassi or even Andretti Green then she would be in the hunt every week. Considering she has made her career driving open-wheel cars, it’s a massive change to move to NASCAR. She would be driving more than twice as many races (more if she races Busch series events) against twice as many competitors in a totally different vehicle.

On the other hand, the marketing impact alone would be phenomenal. No woman has raced competitively in NASCAR in recent years, and if she were able to drive for Roush she would definitely have a top 10 car every week. It’s actually plausible, considering Roush recently signed Sondi Eden to a developmental contract.

Most likely it’s all smoke and mirrors to get her a big fat IRL contract with a better team. We’ve seen this ploy in recent years with Sam Hornish and Dan Wheldon, and they have proven more successful at the IRL than Danica!...then again, Danica! is a rather rare driver in terms of popularity. Either way she’s gonna get paid, and it probably won’t be from Bobby and David.

We've got Nicoderm on the side of the car and we're gonna try to beat those Phillip Morris people"
- Dan Wheldon on his car’s new paint scheme and sponsorship

There is a rivalry developing this season, if not already fully in bloom. The top four drivers are all either Penske or Ganassi drivers and all six races this season have been won by one of these four drivers. The castoffs from last season’s underpowered Toyota engines have become the dominant force (fource?) of the 2006 IRL season. To no ones surprise Spiderman and his three victories sit atop the standings with four wins, but most startling is that Well Done is in fourth place despite leading more laps than the other three.

I don’t want to say this is turning into a four car series, but it is. Despite improvement of Fernandez and Vision racing teams and the continued contention of Andretti Green, the only question for this season is Smoking or Non-Smoking.

It’s only fitting this weekend’s race is in Richmond, Virgina – home of Phillip Morris.

Several days ago I referred to Marco Andretti as "Andretti 3.0" since, well, it's appropriate. His father ("Andretti 2.0") had a racing career that demonstrated much of the skill and success of his grandfather's, and Marco looks to be heading towards similar greatness.

Unlike less-famous offspring Anthony, nee AJ Foyt IV. Or Arie Luyendyk Jr. Or PJ Jones.

Well, the good folks at IMS (as in Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Productions have decided to capitalize on the newfound fame out the youngest driver in their series. The have created an 8-part series around Andretti 3.0 (that's two more episodes than IRL races for the young man) that will debut this weekend on ESPN2.

It's called "Andretti 3".

Coincidence? Maybe my little blog has fans in high places.

Selected 2006 Bombardier Learjet 500 Results:
12. Danica Patrick
15. Jeff Simmons (hey, he finished a race!)
18. Buddy Rice

Now that all teams are running Dallaras, I guess it wasn't the Panoz chassis slowing down the Rahal Letterman Racing team after all.

As a side note, Jamie Little interviewed Danica! after the race in Texas and proudly announced that she (Ms. Patrick, not Ms. Little) was the only driver to complete every race this year. That's an interesting feat considering the entire Rahal Letterman Racing team didn't even start the first race in Homestead.

I'm just surprised it wasn't Jack Arute saying this.

After the events in Watkins Glen last weekend, Eddie Cheever Jr’s Christmas Card list got a bit shorter. Old Man Cheever was cited by not one but two drivers as taking them out, and the two drivers just happened to be wunderkinds Andretti 3.0 and Danica! Of course, it was only a matter of time before the Old Man responded.

Andretti 3.0 was pretty peeved since he had a shot at winning at the time of his accident. Considering the frustrating turn of events the previous week, even his father Andretti 2.0 was pretty upset.

A3: “If he says he didn’t know I was [alongside], he doesn’t belong in the series.”
A2: “(He’s) a complete idiot."
OMC: "To think I would intentionally take anyone out is just ludicrous. It's beyond words. It was a racing accident, pure and simple. There certainly wasn't any intent, so I find the accusations incomprehensible."

Me thinks the old fella doth protest too much. Meanwhile Danica! was a bit more diplomatic in here exchange.

D!: "It is unfortunate and it is silly. There was no point in doing something so desperate on a restart."
OMC: “She did that all by herself."

Whether he is right or wrong - the replays were inconclusive – Old Man Cheever will fall on the wrong side of public opinion on this issue. Maybe he knows he can’t afford a war of words with two popular drivers, which would explain this little dig.

OMC: "The last I looked, I earned the label of Indy 500 champion; those lobbing unfounded accusations at me have not."

Recent Indy 500 Champion Sam Hornish Jr can take heart in knowing he is now infallible.

While all the vultures were picking over the remains of the late Paul Dana’s driving career, I noted that none of them had written beforehand about how hazardous a driver he allegedly was. I also pointed out that in four career IRL starts Dana had never wrecked his car.
It doesn’t take much sense to understand that at speeds exceeding 200 MPH a driving mistake can easily result in a fatality, and it doesn’t take much observation to realize ALL drivers make mistakes. The best simply make them a lot less often then the grid-fillers.

I mention this because even my six-year-old daughter can notice patterns. A pattern displays physical evidence, and there was no evidence – just Post-Mortem conjecture – that Paul Dana had no business being on the racetrack save the one incident that cost him his life.

But for vultures who would speak of unsafe drivers, a definitive pattern has emerged. Now would be a fantastic time to break out the morbid discussion of who should not be racing because Jeff Simmons, who replaced Dana in the Rahal Letterman #17 car, has now had an accident in all three of his races this year.

Three races, three accidents.

I don’t believe in superstition, but if I did I might be inclined to say the #17 has been cursed. Perhaps it has even been cursed by the irate ghost of Paul Dana himself. Then again, considering the Dana’s mishap in the car, the source of the curse might be of jilted driver Vitor Meira. Even Miera would seem to be cursed since he has been carrying the moniker of “best driver without a win” for several years. Wow, this could be deep.

But I have no such inclination towards the supernatural, so I will simply say what I have seen. Jeff Simmons wrecks every time he gets in the car. I have seen him drive on three different tracks for three different distances with one single result.

I can only speculate the reason for no “Simmons is unsafe” type of articles rests in the belief that since he got his ride the “old-fashioned way” he is somehow exempt from criticism. But facts are facts, and if someone is seriously hurt as a result of his next accident then perhaps the voices on high will look back and see the obvious trends.
It doesn’t matter how someone got into a car; it matters what they do IN the car. The good folks at Ethanol would be wise to keep RLR and Simmons on a short leash unless they want to be associated with even more carnage on the racetrack.