|
When Danica Patrick made the full-time conversion from open-wheel racing to NASCAR in 2012, she asserted that one of her greatest assets in this alien form of motorsports was the ability to admit she didn't know what she didn't know. Mentored predominantly by old-school crew chiefs through 139 races in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series, with improving results a frequent occurrence this season under Tony Gibson, Patrick apparently has come to the conclusion she knows enough to know what she needs. And that is a crew chief with more of an ability to translate to her the science of speed, control and ultimately, victory.  Patrick will get what she wants beginning next week at Texas Motor Speedway as Gibson and her Stewart-Haas Racing road crew will switch places with teammate Kurt Busch's crew chief, Daniel Knost, who has a doctorate in mechanical engineering. Knost, who is in his first season as a crew chief in any NASCAR national series, was the engineer for Patrick's first 10 Sprint Cup races in 2012. Stewart-Haas Racing vice president of racing Greg Zipadelli said Patrick had earlier broached the subject of building a relationship with a young engineer, and his characterization of Knost as "young, aggressive, very smart" apparently made the equation balance as the fiery Busch acquires a steady hand in return in Gibson. Zipadelli deemed the decision a collective one, and the team invigorated. "That is what she grew up with," Zipadelli said. "She came from IndyCar. That is what they had. They dealt with a lot of engineers and the way they do things is a little different than the old-school racer does things. She wants to know more about what they are doing and the comparisons and this and that and just trying to learn at the same time. "She has made a ton of progress. Her speed on the racetrack, her qualifying is better, but our race finishes aren't. That is really what counts. So how do we help and encourage that? Right now, I just think that for where we are at this is a pretty good change." Patrick said the decision, ultimately, was not hers, but concurred that her background could mesh with Knost's. "I think that everybody is looking for some magic and a relationship that takes you to the next level," Patrick said. "Just having something I haven't really had in NASCAR yet ... maybe it will be something that will work better. I don't know." Gibson said he was surprised by the timing of the move but understands the rationale. He said Patrick reached all of the goals they set for her first two Sprint Cup seasons, which left him "impressed," given her lack of stock car experience. But while changing crew chiefs was her prerogative, he steadfastly asserted there is no lack of engineering exchange currently available on the No. 10 Chevrolet program. "I'm an old-school racer, but I probably use engineering more than anyone at Stewart-Haas Racing," he said. "Johnny Klausmeier is probably the best race engineer in this garage area, so I don't know if you can say that you need more engineering, because I flood it with engineering. "... At the end of the day, I thought I gave her everything I could and we worked as hard as we could for her and it's her prerogative if she feels like she needs somebody different. If we're not giving her what she needs, I think the company needs to do that. ... I'm cool with it." Though Gibson's assignment to Busch, a former series champion, was characterized as permanent in a team release and Knost's as "interim," Zipadelli said Knost is not auditioning and is expected to run Patrick's program beginning next season. In 70 Sprint Cup races with Patrick, beginning with the Nov. 4, 2012, event at Texas Motor Speedway, Gibson helped produce four top-10s -- including a best finish of sixth at Atlanta this season -- a pole and five laps led in the 2013 Daytona 500. Patrick is 27th in driver points, where she ended her rookie season last year. But she has drastically improved in most statistical categories, including nearly a nine-spot betterment in qualifying (21.3) and three-spot advance in average finish (23.2). "I feel like things had been going in a nice direction, but again there is a bigger scale of things going on than just me," Patrick said. "So the rearranging took place, but I'm very open-minded and I'm not scared of change. I definitely am one that believes that you can't know if something can be better unless you try it. I'm ready for the challenge and the change and the possibility of it being better than what it is." Knost led Busch to a win at Martinsville, six top-5s, nine top-10s and a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Zipadelli said a temporary regression would not be unexpected as Patrick forges a relationship with Knost. "There might be a step backwards while they get to learn each other and they grow, but long term, a full year, two years from now, I think their personalities will work together much better," he said. "We have to give Danica the ability to continue to grow and build a relationship with somebody, because she plans on being here a while. We just look at that and it's kind of the best of both worlds right now." ESPN.com's John Oreovicz contributed to this report.
|
