Danica Patrick's Cup Series career could be coming to an end this weekend at Homestead, and if this is in fact her last season, it wasn't exactly a year to remember.
Patrick has only one top-10 finish this season, and she's 27th in the points. Reddit user "kbusch41nascar" decided to listen to Patrick's radio for last Sunday's race at Phoenix, and they left the race believing Patrick had no chance from the beginning because she didn't have a car capable of competing.
Here's what they said on Reddit about listening to Patrick during the race:
"The complete lack of ability to change the car at all from her crew chief was astonishing to me. Even early in the race, it was like he knew how bad the car was and her spotter sounded like he felt so bad for her.
"I'll lay it out this way: Her car was a total POS to start the race. I've heard her pitch change throughout races. This was like nothing I'd ever heard before. She started the race pretty quiet, saying nothing but the car not being good, then as the run went on it became super loose and she had the track bar as far as it would go even though thats all her CC would tell her to change. He'd respond "I know" every time she said there was nothing else she could do until they could make changes."
Related: In what could be her last season, Danica Patrick is about to hit a milestone
Patrick finished 25th, and she sounded as if she didn't think she had a chance to compete from the very beginning.
Her spotter, Brandon Benesch, acknowledged how much of a struggle it has been for Patrick considering her car hasn't been very good.
I appreciate it! I wouldn't have it any other way.
— Brandon (@Benesch12) November 13, 2017
If Patrick is being given a bad hand by SHR, perhaps she will reveal her thoughts on the team and her car once she retires.
If this is true, it would be a very bad look for SHR. The team is certainly capable of producing a quality car -- Kevin Harvick is in the championship for the team -- so there will be questions regarding whether SHR did all it could for Patrick.