When Tony Stewart made an honest assessment of Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick is a prominent figure in American motorsports. She put an end to her racing career back in 2018. But when she was in her initial years of NASCAR's Cup Series, the Stewart-Haas co-owner, Tony Stewart, had taken the time to give his opinion on Patrick's 2013 season.

In line with this, Stewart insisted that he saw room for improvement in Patrick in terms of her overall racing ability in the Cup Series. The 53-year-old back then said:

"I see room for improvement, but I see a lot of potential. I think she realizes to a certain degree she took a big bite doing this as early as she did, and I think everybody's judging of her, grading of her, I think you have to look at how much time she's really had in a stock car," Stewart said via The Ledger in 2013.

In the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series 2013 season, Danica Patrick was only able to amass a single pole position and a top-ten finish. She managed to put on board 646 points, good enough for her to secure a 27th-place finish in the drivers' standings.

Danica Patrick on not being 'confident' in a race car

While Tony Stewart talked about Danica Patrick's room for improvement in stock car racing back in 2013, via the same interview, Patrick, on her hand, revealed the moments when she didn't feel comfortable behind the wheel of a stock car.

In line with this, Patrick had the following to add:

"When you need to get to the very limit of the car, especially when things are challenging, is when it shows up. Like first laps of practice, or qualifying, restarts, start of a green flag run — all the things when you are testing the limit and having to be confident and know the limits. I don't know them yet, and I'm not confident," Patrick said via The Ledger.

Patrick, in her NASCAR Cup Series career, took part in a whopping 191 Grand Prix. Her career in the category began in 2012 at the Daytona 500, and from then on, she never looked back and went on to compete in it until the 2018 Daytona 500.

Moreover, during her 191 outings, she was able to put on board seven top ten and a solitary pole position. Her best overall finish in the drivers' championship was 24th, which came in 2015 and 2016.

Since completely retiring from racing (2018), Patrick has become a motorsport pundit. She was even on the panel of experts for Netflix's Drive to Survive Series on Formula 1 (Season 6), which came out in 2024. Other than her motorsport gigs, she also has her own podcast called "Pretty Intense."