Townley Tops Danica In Return Of ‘The Bet,’ Takes 4-0 Lead

‘The Bet’ is turning into a one-sided affair.

John Wes Townley extended his lead over Danica Patrick by finishing 17th on Saturday afternoon at Michigan, besting Danica’s 27th-place finish to take a 4-0 lead in our friendly charity wager.

The “Chicken Man” remained undefeated against Danica in SB Nation’s bet with fans to see which driver could finish ahead of the other more often during races in which they both participated.

Running against Danica for the first time since February, Townley managed a lead-lap finish at Michigan and had his second-best result in seven races this season.

Danica’s result was her second-best of the season, too, but she ended the day four laps behind the leaders.

As you may imagine, our coverage of this bet has pleased those who think Danica is overrated but has angered her fans, some of whom are eager to defend her.

Some Danica fans with short memories of Townley’s struggles have claimed that our bet is unfair, given that Townley has 36 races of stock-car experience and Danica has only six.

So just for argument’s sake, let’s compare Townley’s first six career Nationwide races against Danica’s:

John Wes Townley’s first six career races: 30th, 27th, 38th, 21st, 22nd, 38th. Average finish: 29.3

Danica Patrick’s first six career races: 35th, 31st, 36th, 30th, 24th, 27th. Average finish: 30.5

So even though Townley began his NASCAR career in inferior equipment compared to JR Motorsports’ Patrick, he still had a better average finish during his first six races than she does.