"Nobody's let her by; She never complained about it" - Danica Patrick's dad on her gritty rise through male-dominated racing

Danica Patrick's father T.J. Patrick has revealed that most drivers on the grid raced hard with her despite the criticism she faced on social media. He has also added that she liked the competition.

Patrick is one of the most competitive women in the American open-wheel racing series. Her win in Japan in 2008 remains the only IndyCar race won by a woman. She stepped into the NASCAR Cup Series in 2012, racing with Stewart-Haas Racing for most of her career. While she remained competitive in the middle order like many other drivers, Danica Patrick received extreme criticism throughout her career.

Kenny Wallace, on his YouTube channel, recently had her father T.J. Patrick as his guest. When he asked him about the comments Danica received on her social media, Patrick mentioned that he did not sit down to read all of them. He also claimed that she would be faster than most of the drivers.

"I mean, it goes all the time, man. Everywhere you look. I mean, do I read them? naw, man," he said. "I just kind of giggle, but I know and the right people know that if you put her in a race car, she's going to be almost, if not quicker than any guy in a car. I mean, in the right circumstances, she can do it. Just like most drivers that make it to the top level, you don't make it to the top level by being average."

He further claimed that Danica Patrick never had an easy chance to overtake on the track throughout her career. He said that the other drivers raced harder with her than they would with others on the track, and despite this, she never complained.

"You know, she's never had an easy pass in her life. Nobody's let her by. Everybody that races with Danica races harder than they do any other guy. Yeah. And if you don't believe it, ask any of the other girls, they race your court. And she never complained about it. She knew it. She told me dad, she goes, 'I get it.'"

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Danica Patrick on racing with Martin Truex Jr.

Earlier this year, Danica Patrick talked about the difficult time she had racing with Martin Truex Jr. during her time in NASCAR. During the interview, she talked about quite a few moments with multiple drivers that made it difficult for her to race.

However, she seemingly had a tough time with Truex Jr, whom she claimed had an "aggressive" and "disrespectful" behavior while racing.

"I just end up feeling like on track he was just such a d**k when he didn't need to be. He would just like drive way too close when he was lapping me, and like get me loose. It's just stupid stuff like that where you just seem very disrespectful and unnecessarily aggressive," she said (at 0:53).

Patrick raced with SHR till the end of the 2017 season. In 2018, she got behind the wheel of the #7 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports, but took part in only one race; the Daytona 500. Her race, however, came to an early end on lap 102.