Danica Patrick has big plans for when she's done racing
Dan WetzelColumnist
Yahoo SportsFeb 24, 2017, 6:57 PM

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — This offseason, Danica Patrick launched her Warrior brand of athletic wear through the Home Shopping Network. She has further plans to expand the line, both moving slightly upscale and to other retailers.
This offseason, Danica Patrick wrote a book (release date in the future) about healthy living, including not just directions on how to evaluate and cook healthy food, but how to view food as medicine for the body.
This offseason, as part of the book, Danica Patrick designed a workout routine that she is currently testing via 700 people online, from teenagers to her own nearly 60-year-old mother. It comes complete with message board motivation and direct advice and discussions with Patrick. It’s intense.
This offseason, Danica Patrick moved forward with the winery she bought a few years back and has since developed in Sonoma County, Calif. A mailing list has been established with an eye on the 2014 vintage moving to stores and restaurants across the country. Somnium Wines (“Dream” in Latin) is an ambitious attempt at creating a high-end, boutique brand.

Danica Patrick is entering her fifth season in NASCAR and says she will give it up when it’s not fun to her anymore. (AP)

This offseason, Danica Patrick had four days off, total, which she used to go Mexico on vacation. The rest of the time she was preparing for the 2017 NASCAR season, including Sunday’s running of the Daytona 500. If early indications mean anything – a fourth-place-finish in last week’s Clash and a sixth in Thursday’s Duel – she didn’t miss a beat on that, either. She starts in the seventh row for the 500.
“It’s been a pretty good start. I’ve had my best finishes in NASCAR,” Patrick said while sitting at a table outside her motorhome in the Daytona infield Friday afternoon. “And I get it, those are the Clash and the Duel and not the full race, but I didn’t finish fourth and sixth ever before.”
We’ll see if that translates to the Great American Race. We’ll also see how her other budding businesses translate in those worlds, although those seem like perfect fits.
Know this regardless: at age 34, Danica Patrick is building an empire off a health and fitness (and a little wine) brand that comes in heavy on authenticity, expertise and passion. She won’t race forever. The fame that came with being a racer, however, may allow her to inspire proper diets, exhaustive workouts and the achievement of personal goals for a long, long time.
“Three hundred and sixty degrees,” she said of her lifestyle vision.
It isn’t even about having people lose weight or gain strength or feel fulfilled. Patrick wants everything to go further, to get her clients “mentally fit enough to do it.” She is unlocking internal power in every way imaginable.
Around NASCAR, Patrick remains an uncertainty. This is her fifth full-time season on the Cup circuit and the results haven’t been great. Not just zero victories, but no postseason appearances and a dearth of even top-10 finishes – just six and none last year.
Despite being one of the most marketable and popular drivers here, she lost her GoDaddy sponsorship after the 2015 season and then saw Nature’s Bakery bail just one season into a three-year deal after 2016.
Patrick doesn’t need to be reminded of the struggles. As is her style, she attacks everything directly and is well aware of the idea that starting all these businesses will spur questions that she is setting herself up for a post-racing life. There’s no need to connect the dots, though.
“I’d be considering how long I want to race whether I have anything else to do or not,” she notes.
And how long is that?
“I don’t know,” Patrick told Yahoo Sports. “I want to race and have fun and running 20th and in back is not fun. I want to do better. And if it doesn’t start to go better then it’s not worth it. I’m not out there to just be a car in the field. I don’t have to race because I need the money. I don’t have to do any of that.