Danica Patrick’s new contract, sponsor makes NASCAR the big winner

Like LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo or Tiger Woods, Danica Patrick is a sports figure easily identified by just a singular name. They are global brands whose commercial appeal reaches well beyond their respective fields.

Unlike James, Ronaldo or Woods, however, Patrick’s hasn’t yet achieved high-level success with just one victory in 281 combined races spread across NASCAR and IndyCar.

Nonetheless, her popularity remains strong to the point a family-owned company is willing to invest nearly one-fifth of its $100 million annual revenue into sponsoring Patrick’s Sprint Cup team in 28 of 36 races. As Nature’s Bakery, a nutritional snack business, announced Tuesday a multi-year agreement to back Patrick beginning in 2016. A deal that ensures Patrick remains with Stewart-Haas Racing, one of NASCAR’s premier organizations, and in the sport for the foreseeable future.

On the surface Nature’s Bakery would appear to be a downgrade from GoDaddy, a worldwide-recognized company whose 2015 first-quarter revenues hit $376 million. That Patrick, desperately in need of a sponsor, aligned herself with a family-owned company with roughly 420 employees -- fewer than some of NASCAR’s top teams -- just so she could remain with a competitive team.

But the Internet domain registrar and web-hosting company wasn’t always a household name. While she wasn’t alone responsible for spurring GoDaddy’s rise, Patrick certainly played no small part with the two becoming indelibly linked since partnering in 2007.

Patrick’s contributions include appearing in a series of racy Super Bowl commercials in addition to becoming the first woman to win an American top-level, open-wheel series race. That victory garnered international media attention from national morning television shows to magazine features.

GoDaddy’s commitment was paramount to Patrick transitioning to NASCAR in 2010, which paid dividends when Patrick became the first woman to capture the pole for the Daytona 500 (2013) -- a race she nearly won, as she was running third on the final lap before sliding to eighth.

“We’re a pretty young company,” Nature’s Bakery co-founder Dave Marson said Tuesday. “We’ve been in the business for a few years. But it’s a pleasure to introduce Nature’s Bakery to the NASCAR world, to Stewart-Haas Racing and obviously to Danica. What a genuinely authentic person to represent our brand. It’s pretty amazing.”

Maybe Patrick can’t replicate for Nature’s Bakery what she did for GoDaddy, but the precedent is there. It’s a calculated risk that the maker of fig bars is taking, and a worthy one. Patrick is a star even if her on-track accomplishments are lacking.

At a time when many a driver has trouble attracting sponsorship, including mainstays Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne, Patrick has no such issue. Even as NASCAR still recovers from the 2008 economic downturn that saw a bevy of high-profile companies depart or reduce their presence greatly (Home Depot, UPS, Old Spice, Gillette, Red Bull, General Mills, etc.), Patrick is one of the few to bring an injection of fresh capital into the sport -- not once, but now twice over.

That attraction isn’t because Patrick is winning races and contending for championships. It’s because of her celebrity and name recognition. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Despite rhetoric saying otherwise, NASCAR’s never been about having the best 43 drivers competing each week head-to-head. Racing isn’t cheap and requires deep pockets. Having sponsorship is as essential as having an engine or tires, and few excel in that area like Patrick, who may not win races but knows how to win over a boardroom.

And it’s not as if Patrick is a complete slouch behind the wheel nor an embarrassment. In now her third full Cup season, she’s shown steady improvement each year. Currently residing 21st in the standings, she ranks better than team owner and three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart (26th) and boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a two-time Xfinity Series champion who beat Patrick for Rookie of the Year honors in 2013.

“We all know what the value of Danica’s brand is,” said Stewart, SHR co-owner. ”[But] watching her from her IndyCar days, I realized how big a talent she is more than a marketing tool. To have her as one of the drivers at Stewart-Haas Racing, we’re proud of her. We’re proud of her progress. We’re proud of what she does behind the race car. She’s probably the most detail-oriented race car driver I’ve ever worked with as far as her feedback, attention to detail, describing what the car does, the feel she has in the car. She’s much better at it than I am.

“I think she’s a great asset to this organization,” he added. “I look at it more from the racing side than the marketing side, personally.”

Patrick will always face criticism for what she isn’t rather than what she actually is -- some of which is justified, some not. That’s the nature of big-time athletics. The reality is she’s earned her spot and Tuesday’s announcement was a win-win for all involved. Patrick gets to remain in NASCAR with the team she loves and that adores her in return, while the sport gets to keep one of its most marketable drivers with the bonus of a new company willing to invest millions upon millions of dollars.

How exactly is that a bad thing?