Just when a kinder, gentler Danica emerged, Richard Petty and Tony Stewart put the world's most popular female racecar driver on the spot.
Just one day after Sports on Earth wrote an article declaring Danicamania dead at the Daytona 500, Petty upped the stakes in his media war with Stewart, Patrick's boss, by indicating he's willing to race Patrick.
According to ESPN.com, Petty appeared on Fox & Friends on Friday morning and accepted Stewart's offer of a head-to-head race between Patrick and "the King."
"I'm 76 years old, OK?" Petty said, grinning, during a live spot from Daytona International Speedway. "It's been 25 years since I've been in a race car. But I'll take that challenge."
When asked again, Petty said, "Oh, yeah. When is this going to happen?"
Stewart himself got swept up in the emotion of pandering toward a studio audience when he appeared on Performance Racing Network's "Fast Talk" and defended his Stewart-Haas Racing Employee and teammate.
"I think that (a race) would settle it once and for all - maybe get him to shut up a little bit, too," Stewart said, as reported by USA TODAY Sports. "... I will supply the cars. If he wants to race her, I'll make sure they have exactly the same setup in the car and give him the chance. He can drive one of my 14 cars, I don't care."
"Fast Talk" moderator Doug Rice suggested to Stewart that Patrick ask Petty to sign the checkered flag if she beat him; Stewart went one step further:
"If I were her, I'd take if over there and cram it up his (butt)," Stewart said as the crowd erupted. "But that's just me."
Sports on Earth had mentioned that earlier in Patrick's career, she may have lashed out or fought back at Petty's comments, but when asked about them earlier this week, all she said was, "everybody is entitled to their own opinion."
But now that the challenge has been extended and accepted, Patrick likely will have to be the one to publicly back down from the race. If she does race against Petty, she runs the risk of alienating fans that would argue that she beat a 76-year old. Or even worse, if she were to lose.
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