Hats off to Danica Patrick, 8th place is nothing to snark at, although I’m sure I will find a way to trivialize it at some point below. Plus, the former open-wheel driver was in the top 10 for the majority of the race, especially during crunch time in the end. Hey, from what I hear, she ran a pretty solid race the entire Daytona…except of course she didn’t win. Now, I’m not sure how Carl Edwards took his eight place finish last year, ending this race 33rd. But NASCAR has one of two ways to go here, a decision that can keep some sense of the competitive aspect of the sport, without ignoring a cash cow.

If NASCAR sits back and throws Danica Patrick on a pedestal, continuing to make her races about the first female to finish eighth, they will be doing an injustice to their fans and Patrick herself. That’s right, in order to truly assimilate her into the Sprint/Nationwide Cup, she needs to be treated like any other driver. A top 10 finish should be treated accordingly, something to feel good about, but not great. She ran a good race, but just not good enough to win. Does that shut up the group who doubt whether she belongs? No. But I didn’t expect anything short of a victory to make that big of impact. But by making it a huge deal, really anything more of a deal than the reaction from Edwards last year, NASCAR continues to make it about Patrick not about their product. That is where this decision becomes so important, but remains so complicated.

We saw Ray Lewis, 50 Cent, and others today at the Daytona. Even with Danica Patrick front and center down the stretch, there remains a harsh reality about NASCAR I don’t think they can ever overcome. First, understand the sport must be in dire need of attention money, as this crossover appeal with Ray/50 is pretty transparent. So by selling a little bit of your soul and throwing Patrick’s (not hard to look at) face all over the multi-media machine, you have a recipe to start bringing in much more attention money. The risk is continuing to cheapen the sport’s accomplishments, by saying an eighth place finish for Patrick is outstanding, while overlooking let’s say a fourth or fifth place finish. Logic states we should be celebrating the latter more. So if you don’t start holding Patrick to an equal level of criticism, whenever she does get around to winning a race, it won’t feel so contrived. So understanding all that, I get why NASCAR is trying to reel me in, and others around this country, be it Lewis or Cent or Maroon 5 fans. But repetition is the key word that will ultimately doom this sport. Repetition my friends, remember it.

We sit through 162 games of a baseball season. We endure half of that with the NBA and NHL, all the while complaining how the seasons are still too long. Even the NFL can fall victim to repetition, especially later in the season when divisions may be wrapped up. It hurts growth, limits expansion, and works against any one of these sports (not the NFL, let’s be real here) trying to move up the chain. It’s because we are still in love with the story lines, we sit through what becomes monotonous during the regular season. We even put it in game terms, how many times have you heard the non-NBA fan tell you the only time worth watching is the final two minutes? That’s the problem here. Too many fringe fans, the ones NASCAR wants with pumping out Patrick as much as they can, will simply get bored. The very definition of the race, the sport, is repetition. How does doing the exact same thing for hours NOT transfer into monotony? Remember what breaks the monotony in other sports, a home run, slam dunk, goal, etc. In NASCAR? A crash. On Sunday? Patrick winning. Here lies the biggest problem, unless you are counting on people DVR’ng the race and fast forwarding to the final 10 mins, the tall task remains getting people to stay. There is one thing the sport has, a continued ability to promote their next race, as the one Patrick may win. But in what is sold as their Super Bowl, I think NASCAR is on the verge of a big mistake. Pitching to a fringe element that may not even exist, while cheapening results of races with Danica Patrick, while risking losing your core support system. Then again, what do I know, I’m too busy watching the first quarter of my Knicks.