DANICA PATRICK, NO. 10 GODADDY/TAXACT CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Daytona International Speedway. Full Transcript:

Q. Talk about your full‑time chief for this year, and what are your thoughts about it?
DANICA PATRICK: Not necessarily, but, you know, I trust the team that they’ll make good decisions for me and do the best thing for me and for the team overall. They know that I worked with Daniel back in 2012 when I did 10 races with Zipadelli. He was the engineer, and they knew that I got along with him and liked him. It’s all a big balancing act in the team, especially a big team.

Q. But no team testing, does that put you back behind the 8‑ball a little bit trying to get this going?
DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, I think that no testing is probably a little bit of a handicap in a new relationship team‑wise, but we’ll overcome. We’ll get through it, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones that are in that boat. We’ll just make the most of what we have for time and work it out.
Q. Are you worried at all about qualifying here?
DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. Yeah, I am worried about qualifying. It didn’t go well at Talladega, and I don’t see how it’s going to go any different here at Daytona, especially since at Talladega they saw how little time we had left in the five‑minute session, and they waited even longer. You’d have thought they would have just gotten a big group and just hauled butt and all been faster than most of us in the first group, but they didn’t. I don’t have any reason to think it’s going to be a lot different other than maybe people will be a lot more encouraged to work together and to stick with the plan. Other than that, luck of the draw.
Q. How do you approach that? Do you need to go out and find someone you can draft with and get a plan?
DANICA PATRICK: For speedway situations in qualifying like that, it’s always the effort to find people to go and draft with and figure it out. It’s just a matter of how many people follow through with it and actually do it. That’s what I’m saying. I’m just like, maybe people will stick with the plan a little bit more.
Q. In the context of coming into a new season, what does the Daytona 500 mean to you?
DANICA PATRICK: That’s it. That’s the best you’ve got? No, just something unique and different.
This is our biggest race of the year, and if you were to pick one in the season that you would love to win, it would definitely be Daytona. Now, from a driver perspective, probably not. I mean, if you wanted to pick one to win as a driver you’d probably pick Bristol or Darlington or Atlanta or somewhere that’s different, challenging, and not just big pack speedway racing based on luck. But there’s nothing bigger than the Daytona 500 for us in the season, so I go back again to if you were to pick one to win, you’d want to win Daytona.
Q. How far do you think you’ve come in terms of establishing the trust and relationships with other drivers? It seems like there’s got to be a rapport there.
DANICA PATRICK: I think it’s always a work in progress. I think that the fact that I make a conscious effort to try and do a good job and earn their trust is probably a little bit helpful, but it also just is a matter of time, too. When we go out there and race in speedway races, while we’re all out there, you don’t race against everyone that day, and so it takes time to get around all the cars and earn their respect and trust. But you know, I’ve also kind of learned, too, that everybody wants to go to the front, right, and if there’s one person that doesn’t really lead, follow and stick with the program out there, it’s probably Junior, but he’s one of the best at it. People also like going with drivers that they know are going to go for it, so I think it goes back to just drive the car, drive as hard as you can, make good decisions, and be loyal when that’s of best interest to you. I think there are times when you’re out there in speedways and follow the leader in a train is your best bet, so do it and do it well and hold tight to the car in front of you and don’t move around a lot on the track, and then when you have an opportunity to go, show that you want to go so other people will see that you’re anxious, that you’re aggressive, and that you want to go to the front.
Q. Talk about the adjustment rule from inside the car from a driver’s perspective.
DANICA PATRICK: We don’t use it at Daytona. I believe it’s starting in Atlanta. What do I think of it? I mean, I come from a world of a ton of adjustments. The track bars front and rear and weight jackers and bump adjusters and a lot of stuff that you can move, so it’s familiar. I like it on a personal level, but I’m not 100 percent sure it’s going to make for better racing because I think that what we love about good racing is passing, I feel like, right, in people’s perception, and if I’m really, really loose out there and I can fix it, I’m not going to get passed as easily and I’m also not going to pass the person in front of me because they can also fix how tight they are.
You see what I’m saying? It fixes the problems instead of having to wait until the next pit stop. It’ll be interesting to see if it really makes for better racing as much as it just gives drivers comfort.
Q. Were you disappointed the Super Bowl didn’t run your commercial, and were you surprised at kind of the reaction?
DANICA PATRICK: I was definitely disappointed I wasn’t in the Super Bowl for a commercial, but I was in a Super Bowl commercial, it just didn’t run. GoDaddy had every intention to run that commercial, and I feel like I heard from a lot of people that it was like choreographed and it was planned and stuff. I think that’s so funny. We thought it was a really funny, absolutely left‑sided joke, but it really was not intentional. So was I surprised? I don’t think anything in this culture surprises me anymore. I mean, people have opinions about everything, especially when you get into that world of animal rights or tree rights or whatever rights. They all have an opinion.
I think that Blake handled it as great as he could have. I feel like he made the most of the moment and showed the character of GoDaddy and of himself and said, fine, we’re not here to rock the boat, we’re not here to make people angry, and we’ll pull the commercial and we’ll run something else. We were here to be funny, and enough people didn’t think it was funny.
And then of course on the other side of it, as soon as he pulled it, everybody was like, did he do it too fast, should he have done it, was it okay? So I think it creates a really interesting dialogue. I thought he did a wonderful job of handling it, and I feel like they still got the bang for their buck out of Super Bowl commercials.
Q. You’re active in social media and people know that you kind of love your dog; did that kind of help some of the criticism?
DANICA PATRICK: I don’t know. I mean, that’s an interesting question. I’m not sure. Maybe there would have been more if it would have kept going, but I looked far to find my dog online. Sorry, I did. I love my dog and take great care of her. I was up at 1:45 in the morning taking her out last night in the dark because she had to go out. She found a good home. I mean, how bad can it really be?
I think that the internet is a source for information. It was really hard to find a miniature Siberian husky, but we found one.
Q. How much better driver are you in NASCAR than you were when you started, and do you get impatient with the progress?
DANICA PATRICK: I feel like from the beginning to where I am now, I feel like it’s a lot different. I mean, I can remember the first real race I was in a Cup car was, oh, Darlington. That was my first real Cup race past Daytona, which was a real doozy, and I didn’t have any idea what I was doing. I was like the slowest car out there, and I was just thrilled that I wasn’t last in qualifying. Then to progress from there and find myself qualifying in the top 12 and having top 10 finishes is a lot better. There’s always things to work on, but the things that I wanted to work on from the first year to the second year were drastic improvements, and I feel like now from year two to year three I’m looking in different areas, but hopefully there can be improvement there, too.
Q. What are your expectations for 2015?
DANICA PATRICK: I mean, it’s very difficult to just put a number on it and say I want to finish here. But I mean, from last year I feel like we were pretty comfortable like top 15 car a lot of the time, and while we didn’t finish there a lot of the time, we had that kind of speed, and a lot of times we were running there or were on pace to get there. So hopefully we can run there more consistently.
Also, you know, it’s going to take a little bit of time to get there with a new crew chief. And I say a new crew chief because he’s also a new crew chief. He’s only in his second year. I’m new and he’s new, and it’s a new relationship with each other. I feel like it’s going to take a little bit of time, but I feel like the things that I learned last year and on the racetrack and with my team will hopefully send me in the right direction to making that go as fast as possible.
Q. (Inaudible) once you get out of the car. Jeff Gordon, everything has been so methodical for him ‑‑
DANICA PATRICK: Like take my helmet off, take my gloves off, that sort of a thing? You mean be done?
Q. When the day comes when you decide that this isn’t fun anymore or you don’t want to do it anymore, do you have a career plan five, ten years, whatever you feel you would want to do?
DANICA PATRICK: I mean, no, I don’t have a plan. I feel like for me it’s far enough away that I don’t have a plan, but I have ideas and I have other interests that I enjoy, and I think that in sports there’s an opportunity to pursue things that you just enjoy other than what you’re doing. You know, while they really could become a job, they’re really just an extension of something else that you enjoy doing.
I think about that frequently, about what I like doing and how I can do something fun and hopefully profit from it after I’m done racing, and for me that really came from Bobby Rahal back when I started driving for him was that he told me to save my money and then he also talked about thinking about having the same lifestyle after I was done racing that I had during, and obviously that made me think about what else can you do to earn money because when the income ends there, then depending on how much you have saved up obviously determines whether or not you’re able to continue with the lifestyle you want.
I’ve been very fortunate in my career, and I feel like no matter what I could have a good life, but I want to use the time after I’m done racing to just do other things that I like.
Q. If somebody wrote a story and they said that you didn’t really have specific goals of ‑‑ like numbers of where you thought you should be after a certain time and they said, Danica has got to set goals, but most drivers don’t do that and say I want to win a championship and I want to win races, and those are my goals. Do you feel like you have to show your specific numbers or that people are asking you more for that than maybe others?
DANICA PATRICK: I would imagine every driver gets asked the same question, just like the gentleman asked, like what do you feel about Daytona? Where do you feel like you should be finishing this year to feel good? Those are the general, basic, predictable questions that I am anticipating that I will get throughout the day. Hopefully not all day.
So I don’t think that they’re uncommon for drivers to get. I just think that for me, where I’m at with early enough in my Cup career, I don’t think I really know exactly where I’ll be, and I a lot of times go back to the example of Kansas last year in the spring and say that I had never run in the top 10, qualified and ran in the top 10 like that all night in a race, but I was ready when it came.
It’s not that if I say I want to finish top 15 I don’t want to win or I’m not ready to win, it just means I’m being realistic and that is keeping my expectation level in a place that won’t allow me to get frustrated, disappointed, and make what I’m doing go worse.
Q. But do you think you need to set like certain numbers?
DANICA PATRICK: I think I kind of do. I think I go generally with after my first year it was tough to get in the top 20, and now I feel like it’s more like top 15. I do think those numbers evolve, they’re just not super specific. For those of you that have followed racing long enough, every now and again you get a team that jumps up. That was kind of us last year from two years ago to last year. We improved as a team, and that’s going to happen across the board with a lot of different teams. You’ll have uppers and downers, and you don’t know where you’re going to fall in the scheme of it, especially this year where we haven’t had in the testing.
Q. How well will running on Saturday night help for Thursday night?
DANICA PATRICK: I mean, I feel like early in the season as much track time as you can get to kind of just get back in the rhythm is good in general, but really good at Daytona because it’s such a rhythm, these speedway races, with where to go, the feel of it, the momentum, the air. It’s kind of funny that I’m going to be getting in the car for the first time since Homestead, and it’s going to be for a race weekend. That does feel kind of weird.
So I’m glad I’m running the Unlimited and will get on track tomorrow.
Q. How about being in the Unlimited so early in your Cup career.
DANICA PATRICK: It’s good. There was definitely a lot of shuffling around with who was going to be in the Unlimited, and it was cool that they opened to up to past pole sitters. I think they change it up a little bit depending on who and how they can get in the Unlimited race, and it was a good different rule for me.
Q. Has Ricky talked about ‑‑
DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, he’s excited, yeah, he’s excited. I know that his team worked really hard to get a car ready and get an engine ready, and that’s the kind of stuff that some other teams don’t have the back and support of and the money, and also then you have to think about, I mean, my car was destroyed last year in the Unlimited, so that’s also a budget issue with some teams that they don’t want to take that ‑‑ they don’t want to go that road and be down a car. I understand, but there’s still going to be a good race that goes on, and I have no doubt that there will probably be some damage.
Q. Jeff Gordon is known to have opened up the sport to a whole new demographic, not the good ol’ boys, but California, Indiana. Do you think you could have that same effect?
DANICA PATRICK: I’m from Illinois, so pretty average. I mean, obviously I’m unique and different and he was unique and different in the sport as being a California boy and not from the South, and so I guess in those ‑‑ with those parameters, then yeah, I feel like, sure, I probably could bring in different people being a female in the sport. You know, I know that NASCAR is always looking for new fans, and hopefully I can help bring some in.
Q. Would you get into Dancing With the Stars?
DANICA PATRICK: No, sir, I don’t think that’s for me. I was asked a long time ago a couple of times, and while I was honored to be asked, I also know that my game face is not of a pretty nature. I don’t know how many votes I would get anyway. I also, just as a pragmatic situation, I don’t have time. I don’t have time. I mean, I don’t have a month or six weeks or two months. I mean, that’s the whole off‑season. That would be as if it fell exactly right on the off‑season. I do plenty in the off‑season to keep me busy, too, and have lots of obligations, and I’m fortunate to have a lot to do, but I don’t have that kind of time, either.
Q. Is there another driver you’d like to see?
DANICA PATRICK: I think we saw the best one. I think Waltrip was as good as it gets for entertainment purposes. Bowyer would also be funny.
Q. Is it realistic to think that you and Ricky could work together on the track? Is that possible not being teammates?
DANICA PATRICK: I think that happens all the time on the track, cars that are not teammates, and especially as it gets later into the race. I wouldn’t say that’s something that we plan, but I don’t think you plan it with anybody outside of your team anyway. It’s like Chevy drivers are going to work together if they can, and then beyond that, it’s a matter of whether or not you get along and respect and want to ride around with another driver, and of course I’d ride around with Ricky. I know he’s not going to take me out intentionally, so that’s always a positive.
Q. You’re known as standing up for yourself in a man’s sport. Have you given it back to Richard Petty since his comments?
DANICA PATRICK: I don’t have anything to say.
Q. Have you talked to him?
DANICA PATRICK: I haven’t looked him in the eyes. I know that, because he wears sunglasses. So maybe he’s looked me in the eyes. I’m not sure.
But I have nothing to say. I fully believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and it’s not something I pursued.
Q. So you haven’t talked to him?
DANICA PATRICK: No, sir.
Q. Is this a pivotal year for you?
DANICA PATRICK: I believe y’all are making that story. I feel like every year is a pivotal year. When I first got into IndyCar, I thought I really needed to do a good job so I could stick around, and every year is a pivotal year, and I did enough to feel like, gosh, good, I feel like I made enough of a splash that it’s good for my sponsors and I ran well, so it can happen in year one, year two, year three, year four. I feel like every year is an important year, and I care the same every year to do well. The most important thing for me is that my sponsor is happy and that GoDaddy is getting what they need from the relationship and there’s ROI for them, and then on the other side that my team feels my desire and knows how determined I am and sees improvement and wants me to be a part of their team.
Q. Where are you at with your contract with Stewart‑Haas Racing? Have you had discussions about an extension or anything?
DANICA PATRICK: I mean, we talk about that kind of stuff all the time. We talked about that last year.
Q. Is it close?
DANICA PATRICK: It’s frigging February, buddy. It’s really a matter of cart and horse. It’s sponsor and team. Both are happy, so it’s a matter of getting GoDaddy in a place where they’re happy and committing to something, and from my understanding the team wants that, too, and it’s just a matter of time.
Q. Do you have a most fond memory of this race?
DANICA PATRICK: Probably starting on the pole next to Jeff Gordon was cool, especially now in light of him retiring. It’s cool to remember back to being a kid and being a fan of Jeff Gordon and getting a picture next to his car when I was a kid and then being right there next to him on the racetrack.