NASCAR At Daytona: Did Danica Patrick Call Her Shot For Nationwide Win?

Danica Patrick will win tonight’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway...according to Danica Patrick.

Well, kind of.

Patrick was a guest on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday morning, and host Dan Patrick (no relation) nudged her toward making a prediction at the end of the interview.

Dan: “If you want to call your shot that you’ll win tonight, might as well do it.”

Danica: “... I heard one of the officials come over and say all the officials are saying I’m going to win the race tonight. They’ve been around a long time and seen a lot of races, so I’m going to go with the officials on this one.”

Dan: “You’re calling your shot. Danica Patrick will win tonight’s race at Daytona.”

Danica: “Get ready.”

Wow. So Danica Patrick says she’s going to win her first NASCAR race tonight at Daytona? Did Patrick (Danica, not Dan) really say that?

“That’s true, that’s true,” Patrick said with a laugh, speaking a few hours after her interview with the other Patrick. “But then I was taking a shower after washing off my hairspray and makeup and I was like, ‘Wait a second. That kind of sounded like a jerk thing to say!’ So what I really should have said is, ‘Well I shouldn’t be betting against myself, should I?’

“So that’s my answer. I really shouldn’t bet against myself.”

Patrick said she wasn’t making a guarantee that she’d win, because there are no guarantees in racing.

“You all know that,” she said. “It’s like when somebody comes up and asks you, ‘Are you going to win tonight?’ Well, I’m going to try! That’s the best I can do.”

But because of her experience at Daytona (she’s run more laps here than any other NASCAR track) and her car (JR Motorsports always has good superspeedway cars), Patrick said she has “as good a chance as ever” to win her first race tonight.

And reality, that makes her anything but confident enough to call her shot.

“I guess you could say I’m a little nervous,” she said.