promotion

By David Thomas, McClatchy Newspapers (MCT): FORT WORTH, Texas — Danica Patrick put her skills on display Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway.

She wasn't in a car, wearing a fire suit or even standing on the track.

Instead, she was up in a ninth-floor banquet room of the Speedway Club for TMS' annual Media Day.

She wasn't the only guest. Denny Hamlin, the two-time winner at TMS last year and near winner of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, was on hand. So was racing legend Johnny Rutherford and a handful of other racers and owners from various levels.

But the room was Danica's.

She took the stage for a 10-minute Q&A with TMS president Eddie Gossage, during which she was lively and quick-witted. She even landed a couple of jabs on Gossage, and that's a sure-fire way to get the area media on her side.

Danica also made the rounds on local sports radio shows, playfully engaging the hosts and even managing to turn the wheel in a different direction when the conversation seemed headed toward an I-hope-they-don't-ask-that question that made you cringe in anticipation.

If there had been a Victory Lane in the Speedway Club, Danica would have stood there at the end of the day.

And that leads to this question concerning Danica: How big would she become if she made more visits to track-side Victory Lanes?

She has been in one since joining the Izod IndyCar Series in 2005. That win came in 2008, and it came in Japan. It's difficult to imagine a place where her first win could generate less attention here.

So in some regards, we have never truly watched Danica win.

As Danica worked the room Wednesday, you couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if she could win even two or three times every season.

And, really, is there any legitimate reason to believe that she could not do that?

She came close to winning on this very track in 2010, recording one of her two second-place finishes last season in the Firestone 550K.

Her '08 victory came when she was only an IndyCar driver. Now that she has added NASCAR's Nationwide Series to her schedule, the potential for exposure is so much greater.

And while we're imagining, let's imagine what Gossage might do with a Danica victory on his track.

We have seen him turn Danica's spat with fellow driver Dan Wheldon into a boxing-themed promotional banner, complete with Don King's mug shot.

We have seen him turn a photo of Danica from a "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue photo into a billboard.

"You've been very good for me," Danica told Gossage on Wednesday.

"You've been very good for us," Gossage replied. "You really have."

The potential for better is there for the day when Danica becomes a racing success anywhere near the level that she has become a commercial success.

She is much closer, of course, to accomplishing that in IndyCar than in NASCAR.

In IndyCar, Danica's expectations are wins and top-five finishes.

On the Nationwide Series, where she is only two races into her second part-time season, her expectations are top-15 finishes.

She called last year frustrating. Her IndyCar season started slowly, but did end with fifth-place and runner-up finishes in the final two weeks.

At times in her first Nationwide season, she would look and feel top-15 during tests and practices, but then on race day, she said, "It just didn't come together and it didn't happen.

"I think I let good days give me false expectations that were premature," she said.

"Once I got to the end of the year, I just said, 'Look, top 15, that's all it is.'

"I just want to get there. Once I get there on a regular basis, then I'll adjust my goals."

Danica had to adjust mentally to going from one circuit where she expected to win to another in which she realistically couldn't. Her confidence took a bit of a hit.

During her year of frustration, though, she said people were good to her, and that helped greatly.

"Especially in NASCAR," she explained, "with the announcers and everybody pointing out all the good things I was doing out there, and embracing me and really having nice things to say.

"It made a huge difference for me and my self-esteem. And also probably for public perception as well."

There was appreciation in her voice as she spoke those words.

Danica can be laugh-out-loud funny. She can be refreshingly reflective. To see Danica put her skills on display as she did Wednesday, you know that she can be so many things.

And that's what made it fun to look out from that room Danica was commanding and down to TMS' Victory Lane, then imagine what it would be like to see her there.

There might not be even an Eddie Gossage promotion big enough for that