AVONDALE, Ariz. -- The look on Mark Martin's face when he climbed out of his No. 5 Chevrolet at Phoenix International Raceway certainly didn't look like a man who was frustrated by the fact he probably isn't going to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup title.
SI.com's Mark Beech takes a spin around the racing world for the most intriguing stories in and out of the garage.
What's the best way to push criticism out of today's sports news cycle?
The two most popular drivers in auto racing -- Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -- may soon be involved in a limited NASCAR arrangement, NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick confirmed to SI.com.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Danica Patrick signed a three-year contract to remain at Andretti Green Racing in the IndyCar Series, according to team and IndyCar sources.
TOKYO -- Three drivers separated by just eight points heading into the final race of the season with a championship on the line. That's what the IndyCar Series has coming up with its winner-take-all season-finale in South Florida on Oct. 10.
MOTEGI, Japan -- Danica Patrick is back at the site of her first and only major racing victory, being treated like a rock star by fans in Japan and sitting sixth in the starting grid for the next to last race of the IndyCar season.
SONOMA, Calif. -- As NASCAR Sprint Cup prepares for a rare weekend off, the drivers battling for the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the Championship have a chance to pause -- and feel anxious.
SONOMA, Calif. -- Now that Danica Patrick has decided she is going to stay at Andretti Green Racing and the IndyCar Series, all that is left for it to become official is to work out the final details with team owner Michael Andretti and sign a contract.
SONOMA, Calif. -- It appears Danica Patrick is leaning strongly toward staying in the IndyCar Series now that Michael Andretti is in the process of taking full control of ownership at Andretti Green Racing (AGR).
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- The look on Mark Martin's face when he climbed out of his No. 5 Chevrolet at Phoenix International Raceway certainly didn't look like a man who was frustrated by the fact he probably isn't going to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup title.
SI.com's Mark Beech takes a spin around the racing world for the most intriguing stories in and out of the garage.
What's the best way to push criticism out of today's sports news cycle?
The two most popular drivers in auto racing -- Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. -- may soon be involved in a limited NASCAR arrangement, NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick confirmed to SI.com.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Danica Patrick signed a three-year contract to remain at Andretti Green Racing in the IndyCar Series, according to team and IndyCar sources.
TOKYO -- Three drivers separated by just eight points heading into the final race of the season with a championship on the line. That's what the IndyCar Series has coming up with its winner-take-all season-finale in South Florida on Oct. 10.
MOTEGI, Japan -- Danica Patrick is back at the site of her first and only major racing victory, being treated like a rock star by fans in Japan and sitting sixth in the starting grid for the next to last race of the IndyCar season.
SONOMA, Calif. -- As NASCAR Sprint Cup prepares for a rare weekend off, the drivers battling for the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the Championship have a chance to pause -- and feel anxious.
SONOMA, Calif. -- Now that Danica Patrick has decided she is going to stay at Andretti Green Racing and the IndyCar Series, all that is left for it to become official is to work out the final details with team owner Michael Andretti and sign a contract.
SONOMA, Calif. -- It appears Danica Patrick is leaning strongly toward staying in the IndyCar Series now that Michael Andretti is in the process of taking full control of ownership at Andretti Green Racing (AGR).
NEWTON, Iowa -- A perfect storm for the IndyCar Series could result in its most successful driver moving to a new team in 2010, and provide the opportunity to keep the sport's most recognizable driver in the series.
Danica Patrick has apologized for some controversial comments made to Sports Illustrated before the Indy 500, saying, "The whole interview with Dan [Patrick], and every other interview I've ever done with Dan, the questioning comes from left field. It was just a joke and I really apologize if it came across any other way. ... It was a bad joke. There is a lot of sensitivity in our culture about [performance-enhancing drugs]. With all the baseball stuff, I've followed it and this is a real problem. It's a shame kids think they have to do this to get ahead. It's very dangerous. ... It's absolutely not what I'm about. I've learned my lesson on what I should be joking about."
WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin -- A Hulman-George family feud may provide IndyCar star Danica Patrick with the nudge she needs to jump to NASCAR.
INDIANAPOLIS -- While the motion picture that is Helio Castroneves' life has more sequels than the old "Rocky" movies, the back story to Sunday's 93rd Indianapolis 500 included the two stars of the 2005 race.
INDIANAPOLIS -- For the 33 drivers who will start Sunday's Indianapolis 500, there are plenty of keys and strategies that will get one of them into victory lane in the World's Biggest Race.
INDIANAPOLIS -- When it comes to popularity at the Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick is the big winner without even taking the checkered flag.
The racing champ - and bikini cover model - becomes the latest to sport the milk mustache
INDIANAPOLIS -- When Kyle Busch left Richmond International Raceway after last year's spring race, he needed extra security after spinning out race-leader and NASCAR hero Dale Earnhardt, Jr. late in the contest. Busch had become Public Enemy No. 1 in NASCAR.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- So, Danica Patrick thinks she can leave the IndyCar Series, switch to NASCAR and become an instant sensation, racking up millions in sponsorship and endorsement opportunities and race off into the sunset.
The IndyCar driver, who has a weakness for homemade pizza, trades her race suit for a racy bikini
Last week the New York Times devoted considerable space to speculation on Danica Patrick's future in the IRL. Her contract with Andretti Green is up after this season, and she seems to be seriously considering a switch to NASCAR. "One of the things I think of is the exposure level that you get in NASCAR with the ratings and viewership," she told the paper. "Their numbers are so much larger than ours, and with that comes a bigger following, comes more popularity, comes more demand for you to endorse other products. So I think it would be an exponential sort of growth."
NAPERVILLE, Illinois -- Danica Patrick enjoys being in the spotlight, and that's where the IndyCar starlet will be in this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
After a long offseason, the Indy Racing League is primed for a big return Sunday at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. With reunification complete and a budding crop of young stars, here are the top 10 things to watch for in the IRL in 2009.
When Danica Patrick talks about Helio Castroneves, you can imagine her sitting on the floor of her Phoenix home amid hundreds of files, contracts and tax documents. It would be the middle of the night, Patrick with a flashlight in one hand, magnifying glass in the other, mumbling gibberish as she speed-reads the forms.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- While the IndyCar Series has one of the longest offseasons in sports, Danica Patrick doesn't mind because it allows her to be the face of the series in a different way than the steely look of determination that peers through a race visor.
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- One of the greatest combinations in NASCAR Sprint Cup history will come to an end this weekend when Tony Stewart competes in his final race for Joe Gibbs Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Danica Patrick smacked the second turn wall at Kentucky Speedway during Friday afternoon's practice session, which left the IndyCar star more disappointed than dazed.
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada -- In a season where Danica Patrick finally won an IndyCar race, trouble for the starlet continued in Saturday's Rexall Edmonton Indy when she was driven off the track by the team owner's son, Marco Andretti.
WATKINS GLEN, New York -- Now that Mark Martin is back in a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup ride for 2009 and Kyle Busch is back in Victory Lane after his thrilling win at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, it draws a stark contrast to the different directions Chevrolet and Toyota are heading.
RICHMOND, Virginia -- And now, NASCAR has a feud of international proportions involving none other than points leader Kyle Busch and former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia.
I was certain Danica Patrick was going to win the Indianapolis 500 Sunday. Just positive. After all, this 2008 is a year, when, surely, women have been more prominent in sports than ever before -- and in every way: good, bad and sad.
For 13 years they had waited for this moment, waited as open-wheel racing lost its luster and receded deeper into the background of America's sports landscape. For 13 years, following the breakup of the open-wheel circuit into competing series (CART and IRL), the top owners and drivers had watched the Indianapolis 500 become less and less relevant. For 13 years the race that was once America's most watched and celebrated had the feel of a party at which only half the guests (IRL drivers) showed up.
Five things we learned on Sunday in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500, one of the most significant days in the race's history.
The buzz was back at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as one of the largest crowds in years filled the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, who was on the starting grid before the race.
This year's Indianapolis 500 on Sunday afternoon could be the most intriguing in years. Let's take a look at some of the reasons why.
On the day Danica Patrick claimed her historic victory at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan last month, Kristin Bumbera was half a world away. Bumbera was running at Thunder Hill Raceway in Kyle, Texas, just south of Austin. She finished 11th in the Allstate Texas Thunder 150 Race, part of the Camping World West series. She was the only woman running. She's used to that.
The question comes at Danica Patrick, fast and furious, every time she steps out of her monstrous motorhome that's parked in the infield at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Can you win, Danica?
Watching Danica Patrick stride through the adoring throngs surrounding pit lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Saturday afternoon -- five state troopers clearing the way, little girls crying out to her and grown men shouting wedding proposals -- it was easy to think that she's already reached the pinnacle. In the Age of Celebrity, Patrick (or simply Danica to everyone in the crowd) doesn't have to win to be a winner. She's a 5' 2", 100-pound bundle of marketing gold, just riding the wave of her own celebrity.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick received a double-dose of good news on Tuesday as she prepares for the 92nd Indianapolis 500 on May 25.
INDIANAPOLIS -- IndyCar racing's biggest name was emotionally shaken Friday as Danica Patrick was involved in an incident on pit lane during Friday's practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when her car hit a crew member from another team in pit lane.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Danica Patrick's breakthrough victory in Sunday's Honda Indy 300 in Japan has finally silenced the skeptics who thought "Danica Mania" was more hype than substance; that it was based on her beauty rather than her bravery.
IndyCar's first female winner has no plans to TV tango like her rival Helio Castroneves
She is the first female IndyCar race winner after beating Helio Castroneves in Japan
In some ways, it was kind of appropriate that Danica Patrick's historic victory came when it was least expected, on the other side of the earth at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan on a race that was televised on ESPN Classic.
Five lingering thoughts from Sunday's soggy Indy 500:
Danica Patrick is set to start her third Indianapolis 500 this Sunday in the third row. But she'll still be far ahead of the other drivers in the race in one important way: marketability.
The following profiles feature prominent women in the fields of politics, law, sports, science and business.
When Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne went Star Wars on a quarterly conference call this summer--deriding a shadowy figure he called the "Sith Lord"-- he set the investment community buz...
Danica Patrick may have finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500, but she helped make a winner out of ABC Sports, which saw its best viewership for the race in nearly a decade.
Danica Patrick on Sunday restored to the Indianapolis 500 something it once took for granted: the status and attention that comes with being a major sporting event.
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