Tony Stewart has a plan for how Danica Patrick can prove Richard Petty wrong. Last week, the man known to many as the “King of NASCAR” said the only way Patrick will ever win a race is if she’s the only one on the track. Stewart, who is Patrick’s employer and teammate with Stewart-Haas racing, thinks Danica should challenge the old man.
“I think that (a race) would settle it once and for all — maybe get him to shut up a little bit, too,” Stewart said Wednesday, via USA Today Sports. “… I will supply the cars. If he wants to race her, I’ll make sure they have exactly the same setup in the car and give him the chance. He can drive one of my 14 cars, I don’t care.”
When someone joked that Patrick should take the checkered flag to Petty for an autograph after beating him, Stewart said he had a better plan.
“If I were her, I’d take if over there and cram it up his (butt),” he said. “But that’s just me.”
Stewart also said that the 76-year-old Petty underestimates how much NASCAR has changed since he raced and that it is much harder to win now than it was 40 years ago. Patrick has one top-10 finish in her career. She did not take the bait when asked about Petty’s criticism last week.
“People have said things in the past, they’re going to say things in the future,” Patrick said. “I still say the same thing: Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. People will judge what he said, whether they judge it well or not, and I’m just not going to (judge).
“The people that matter the most to me are my team, my sponsors and those little 3-year-old kids that run up to you and want a great big hug and say they want to grow up to be like you. That’s the stuff I really focus on.”
Make it happen. Who wouldn’t watch that race? I bet even people who hate NASCAR would tune in.
