Tuesday, January 31st 'What If' Question

The social media sphere exploded earlier this week when it was announced that Danica Patrick had a guaranteed starting spot in the upcoming Daytona 500.

Patrick, who has never completed a lap in the Sprint Cup Series, is embarking on her first full season in stock cars. She'll be back behind the wheel of the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet while doing a partial Cup schedule in the No. 10 for Stewart-Haas Racing. The Daytona 500 later this month will be her first race and she won't have to worry about qualifying on speed.

Stewart-Haas bought the points of Tommy Baldwin's No. 36 which had been driven by Dave Blaney last season. Further part of the deal was that in the 26 races that Patrick isn't running for Stewart-Haas the No. 10 car will be run by David Reutimann. Patrick's cars will be prepared by Stewart-Haas and Reutimann's by Tommy Baldwin Racing.

Those around the NASCAR world haven't taken to the news kindly. Then again, whenever it comes to Patrick, whether she's right or wrong, the news is normally meet with a chorus of boos. This was no different, many saying that the deal shouldn't have been allowed by NASCAR and buying or swapping points needs to be stopped.

What's interesting is that it's something that's occurred for years. In fact, the Wood Brothers did the same thing in 2011 in order to get rookie Trevor Bayne in the Daytona 500. No one said a peep and instead went crazy over Bayne when he won the race and since then they haven't gotten enough of the young driver.

Patrick isn't getting the same warm welcome, opinions being that she doesn't belong in the sports biggest race. Others have said she got a free pass and should have had to race her way like many others will attempt to do during the Gatorade Duel races on Thursday, February 23.

The hate isn't anything new. If Patrick appears on TV many yell for her to get off, she's not worthy of airtime. Should her commercials air or she does another photo shoot, there are those changing the channel and saying they don't take her seriously as a racecar driver. And heaven forbid her from voicing her opinion because she hasn't accomplished anything in NASCAR that allows her to complain. When she asks questions or voices her honesty about not knowing the rules or ways of NASCAR, she's ripped for that.

From her sunglasses to sponsor and performance, everything is up for grabs. There was even backlash from Patrick saying that she was going to embrace the Honey Bader attitude. She was accused of stealing the nickname from college football player Tyrann Mathieu.

And this chick better not hit the wall, hit another driver, speed down pit road or do anything else besides win or finish top 10 because she'll never hear the end of it. Let's not mention though that Patrick hasn't done anything any other driver or celebrity hasn't done. The rules are just different when it comes to what she can and can't do.

Damned if she does, damned if she doesn't. Patrick just isn't very popular and she hasn't done much to deserve it. That's what didn't make the latest round of negative comments that flew around and caused Twitter and Facebook to nearly explode much surprising. But whether they like it or not, Patrick will race in the Daytona 500 and that's a good thing for her and for NASCAR.

It kicks off the 2012 on a good note. The Sprint Cup Series will get a lot more attention and so will Patrick. There are a lot of expectations on the GoDaddy driver in her first full season. Her learning curve and improvement have begun to show, now she'll look to contend on a weekly basis in the Nationwide Series and bring home a top 10 points finish. On the Cup side she'll get a better taste for what the big boys of racing can do as she dips her toes in the big end of the pool.

And of course along the way she'll blow up the Internet, annoy those watching the TV broadcast and give many media members plenty of material. For Patrick knows all too well: Haters gonna hate.

But ...

What if @DanicaPatrick had had more success in #INDYCAR before coming to #NASCAR, would opinions and criticism of her be different?

@mcanchola2 yes they would.

@BuckyButler Yes. All anyone has ever wanted was for the performance and results to match the hype.

@thebigshmoog most definitely. The hype would be backed up with results.

@chuckallen2 opinions may be different, but I believe her success in INDY will pale in comparison to her NASCAR career. Shes a winner.

@StrokerAce90 Certain NASCAR fans and media would still and always will have the same opinions and criticism of @DanicaPatrick even if she had more Indycar success than she already has.