Race fans of all ages had their eyes on NASCAR this past weekend at Daytona International Speedway and not just on the Sunday's race. Saturday's hyped up Nationwide race at Daytona featured Danica Patrick making her NASCAR Nationwide debut. Earlier in the week in the ARCA race, Patrick started 12th and finished sixth during the 200 mile race.

On Saturday, Patrick started 15th. Her day started out on the wrong side of things, as a loose-handling race car cost her 19 positions, moving her all the way back to 34th. Patrick was starting to get comfortable with her car and then in an instant, her day was over.

Patrick got caught up in a 12 car crash on lap 67, as her right front fender was clipped by the number 16 car of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., causing her GoDaddy.com number 7 to spinout and hit the wall, ending her day. Patrick finished 35th on the day.

To say that Patrick's first time out in an actual race in a NASCAR car (which is a completely different machine from an Indy car) is not fair. She was involved in a wreck that she never was supposed to be a part of, she was just an innocent causality who could not get out of the way.

You cannot simply judge someone by one race, and therefore, Danica deserves more time behind a stockcar before we destroy or praise her. Patrick has an experienced owner in Dale Earnhardt Jr., who races in both the Nationwide and Sprint series. Tony Eury Jr., Patrick's crew chief, previously was the crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series for over eight years.

Danica will try and redeem herself this weekend, this time at the Auto Club Speedway in California on Saturday afternoon.  

Photo by Jason O'Halloran

By Jerry Taylor