‘I really don’t have that desire,’ Danica Patrick denies possibility of her coming out of retirement to race again

Seldom it is hard for athletes to retire from the sport they have dedicated all their life works to but they don’t have any other choice. The passion they have towards the sports makes them stick around the sports even after retirement by becoming part of teams or by joining broadcasting. Yet a return to the sport in any other role than what you played before is painful which sometimes makes them come out of retirement.

Though NASCAR is the premier stock car racing championship it offers drivers who can secure good financial backing and fitness to extend their careers longer than its counterparts. So, when Danica Patrick is the most successful woman in the history of US open-wheel racing and one of the most successful in stoke car racing returned to NASCAR as an analyst in the Las Vegas Cup Series Race, some speculation came forth about her return to the race track.

But, Danica Patrick whose last full Cup season came in 2017, and her final races in 2018 when she competed in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 told Fox Sports that she isn’t that keen to come back to the track as she is happy with her life as Analyst and Podcaster.

Find out what Danica Patrick said

Danica Patrick acknowledged that taking a step back from racing has allowed her to go easy, less aggressive, and less tough with life which she contrary to her 27 years in racing. She went on to say that a comeback to racing is not as easy as other sports as she having the ore spotlight now means she has more burden of expectation to carry.

“That was a 27-year season of my life, where I sort of strapped on the armor, and I was tough and strong and aggressive and was built for that world and I also enjoy this phase of my life, where I can take some of that armor off, and I don’t have to be so tough, and I don’t have to be so aggressive, and I don’t have to do so much,” Danica Patrick said.

“There’s no way I get in a car without expectation levels — my expectation levels and everyone else’s. You never just go out there by yourself — ever. It’s not like being able to just like go grab a basketball and be at an empty basketball court and shoot around, and you could do that and literally, no one could know that. But there’s no chance you could ever go to a racetrack and have no one know,” Danica Patrick added.

Danica Patrick acknowledged that she has enough work right now to keep herself busy as she wants it to be which abstains her from having regrets about retiring contrary to maybe other athletes. She added that she doesn’t really have that desire to get back on track.

“Maybe [for others] it hurts to watch it, depending on how the ending came for them or what they’re doing otherwise. I’m plenty busy enough, as busy as I want to be. So, I don’t feel like I’m sitting around at home so bored, thinking maybe I shouldn’t have retired. … I really don’t have that desire [to race],” says Danica Patrick.

Also read: ‘He was just mad to lose the race,’ Alex Bowman on Kyle Busch’s Las Vegas rant following his loss

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