Danica Patrick short $15 million for NASCAR Cup ride

[Jack Raccoon!]

Ok then dig into your own pocket and fund it yourself like the rest of us. I'm still $18k short this year for my ride...

[Laffs]

If she had a dollar for every ride shes crashed she would be able to self fund her season...

[Jack Raccoon!]

Yeah, me too lol...

[ZR]

One day after filing a $31.7 million breach of contract lawsuit against <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Nature's Bakery" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important; background: inherit !important;">Nature’s Bakery</culink>, <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Stewart-Haas Racing" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important; background: inherit !important;">Stewart-Haas Racing</culink> executives were attempting to avoid a major disruption for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Danica Patrick" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important; background: inherit !important;">Danica Patrick</culink>, whose No. 10 Ford is without its main benefactor less than two weeks before the season starts.
So how will SHR fill the empty race slots?
Though team officials have not spoken about the lawsuit or the way forward, there is an expectation that Patrick’s 36-race Cup schedule would be cobbled together with existing sponsors <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/TaxAct" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important; background: inherit !important;">TaxAct</culink>, <culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Aspen Dental" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important; background: inherit !important;">Aspen Dental</culink> and Code 3 Associates expanding their commitments. It would be expected that TaxAct and Aspen Dental could move to the fore at SpeedWeeks with one taking over the primary sponsorship in the non-points Clash and the other in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 26 (2 p.m. ET, Fox).
Aspen Dental originally had been committed to four races this season, TaxAct and Code 3 Associates three each. Nature’s Bakery, which terminated its sponsorship agreement with SHR on Jan. 19, had sponsored 28 races in 2016, the first year of its contract.
SHR president Brett Frood did not grant interviews Saturday. Nature's Bakery has not commented on the suit, filed by SHR in North Carolina superior court.
Nature’s Bakery had contracted to pay $15.2 million each season for three years to serve as Patrick’s primary title sponsor. The Nevada-based fig bar purveyor would have been responsible for at least 20 and up to 25 points races this season. The company, founded by father Dave Marson and son Sam Marson, is much smaller than most Fortune 500 companies that have their logos sprawled on Cup cars. The amount of money required to carry a primary sponsorship for NASCAR's premier level can be daunting, especially for a smaller group or a first-time investor.

[Jack Raccoon!]

My sponsorship plans are tied into "The Beer Store". Every time I show up at their office, they had me $2.40...

[Scrape]

Mine are tied up in the bank.

[Stephen06GT]

I'll bet the people in the blue oval offices in Dearborn are just tickled pink with this news.

[92redragtop]

Looks like it was a long shot for NB anyway and it didn't pan out.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robindschatz/2016/02/26/natures-bakery-takes-a-calculated-risk-with-a-nascar-sponsorship-interview-with-ceo-dave-marson/#47d2e9a0c187

They're in a very crowded space right now with a lot of new entrants and their recent success is not guaranteed to continue.

[Not4you]

From what I read the NB people are being dicks trying to get out of a contract that they never should have signed in the first place. Trying to argue that DP posting homemade cookie recipes on her twitter breaches her contract because she was supposed to post their stuff. Its a weak cop out to get free of a contract they cannot afford to pay. This isn't about her performance or wrecking cars or any of that. They can't afford the obligation and now want out.

[ZR]

In breach, from what we know, looks like it. My question has always been, why sponsor her in the first place or was the price right as compared to drivers that are actually seeing decent finishes? Her stats support barely being a field filler in spite of top tier team equipment. Not even a single top ten in all of 2016. Granted she's been awesome for marketing women in Nascar but let's face it, she's more likely vs not ever going to be a factor. Let's not even touch on her never ending whining excuses for how someone else crashed her has long since grown annoying.
JMO


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Danica Patrick Results by Year



<tbody>
Year
Final
Rank
Races
Wins
Top
5's
Top
10's
Avg.
Finish
Avg.
Start
Poles
Laps
Led



2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/year.php?yr_id=2016)
24
36
0
0
0
22.03
25.1
0
30
detail (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/driveryear.php?drv_id=2375&yr_id=2016)


2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/year.php?yr_id=2015)
24
36
0
0
2
23.47
22.4
0
7
detail (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/driveryear.php?drv_id=2375&yr_id=2015)


2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/year.php?yr_id=2014)
28
36
0
0
3
23.67
22.3
0
15
detail (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/driveryear.php?drv_id=2375&yr_id=2014)


2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/year.php?yr_id=2013)
27
36
0
0
1
26.08
30.1
1
5
detail (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/driveryear.php?drv_id=2375&yr_id=2013)


2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/year.php?yr_id=2012)
62
10
0
0
0
28.30
36.1
0
0
detail (http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/driveryear.php?drv_id=2375&yr_id=2012)

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</tbody>



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</tbody>

[Not4you]

Its the marketing women thing. NB is targeted to women. Their plan was that the sponsorship would bring lots of new business and that they could pay for it once that new business came in. The company didnt grow significantly following the sponsorship deal. It was a gamble and they lost. She was their best fit for the brand, but it just didn't work out fast enough for them to pay the bills. Their target isn't the guys that care that she is a pack filler. Their target is women who simply care that a famous female athlete is the spokesperson at appearances and in their ads etc. Seeing the paint on the car ultimately accounts for very very little of the ROI. The benefit of the sponsorship is all the other stuff that goes along with it (cardboard cutouts of the driver in stores, their picture on packaging, public appearances, social media buzz, advertising etc etc) that is targeted at the female audience.

[ZR]

^ True enough. Still sux the biz sides trumps talent.

[Not4you]

Has for years unfortunately. A lot of good racers get the shaft and a lot of talentless tools get rides because of money.

[ZR]

Exactly that.

[WTF]

career summary at the bottom of her wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_Patrick

18 years.....1 win in 2008

I remember it....fuel strategy in Indy Car on an oval in Japan

it wasn't like she drove around everybody....she got better mileage and won because all the leaders needed another pit stop

she can drive a race car a hell of alot better than most of us.....but she ain't top tier stuff and she's filling a seat that someone way more worthy would likely be winning races in....and it's been that way for 18 years

[Jack Raccoon!]

I recently podiumed in Palm Beach. Maybe I can slide into her ride. I think Depends® might be on board...

[ZR]

LOL ;)