One of the biggest trailblazers for women in the history of NASCAR, Danica Patrick, might not be a part of NASCAR’s newest Netflix launch; “NASCAR: Full Speed”, but the sixth season of “Drive to Survive” will feature the “Pretty Intense” star alongside other racing pundits like Will Buxton and Claire Williams. According to co-executive producer Tom Rodgers, the diverse career of Patrick as a former race-car driver, an entrepreneur, a podcast host, and an F1 commentator will provide an interesting perspective that they might never have touched on before.
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“We attempt to focus on the stories of the sport and with Danica, she brings a great perspective of … what it’s like to drive a racing car … and the challenges of the sport,” explained Rodgers. “The periphery to that is less important for us in the sense that she’s bringing a good contribution to the story.”
“I think she does a really good job explaining to our viewers some of the thought processes that the drivers are going through,” he added.
Danica Patrick to appear in the 2024 Sky Sports F1 lineup despite controversies
One time, Patrick faced heavy criticism when she told a young girl during an “F1 Juniors” broadcast that women lacked the mindset required to be successful racecar drivers. “As I’ve always said in my whole career, it takes 100 guys to come through to find a good one, and then it takes 100 girls. That takes a long time to find a good one, right?” she said. “It’s just, the odds are not in favor of there always being one or being many of them. And at the end of the day, I think that the nature of the sport is masculine. It’s aggressive.”
Several fans on the internet felt that her comments belittled women. Later, Patrick also became the egg of public wrath when she claimed that F1 icon Daniel Ricciardo’s career was over after the latter got sidelined from five races due to a broken metacarpal in his left hand, which ultimately affected his stint with AlphaTauri.
Patrick might have had her fair share of controversies as an F1 commentator before. But that didn’t stop Sky Sports from naming her as one of the pundits and also a member of Sky Sports’ F1 presenting team for the 2024 season. According to the news channel, Patrick will be seen in seven races throughout the 2024 season.
