Popular Patrick faces growing expectations at Indianapolis 500

After winning her first IndyCar race in Japan last month, Danica Patrick is expected by many to stand tall over this year's Indy 500. Simon Bruty/SI

The question comes at Danica Patrick, fast and furious, every time she steps out of her monstrous motorhome that's parked in the infield at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Can you win, Danica?

I recently spent a few days with Patrick for this week's cover story in the magazine, and I heard fans fire THE QUESTION at Danica well over 50 times -- on pit road, outside of the media center, in the paddock, outside of her motorhome, even on her golf cart as she tooled around the infield. It's a natural question to ask because Patrick's quest to become the first female to reach Victory Lane in the Indy 500 isn't just the biggest story in IndyCar this year, it's the biggest story in all of motorsports in 2008.

So can she do it? Well, all the rival drivers I talked to believe Danica has as good a chance to take the checkers on May 25 as anyone. After all, her team, Andretti Green Racing, has as many resources as any other team in the sport, which means no one will have more support than Danica on race day.

On Pole Day last Saturday she qualified fifth -- a good but not great starting position -- but she has a history of success at Indy when starting from the second row. From the fourth spot on the grid in the 2005 race, you'll recall, she led 19 laps before backing off the throttle late to conserve fuel. She was passed by three cars in the final minutes of the race and wound up fourth. She recently was told by a person with inside knowledge of the situation that she actually had enough fuel to make it to the finish line going full speed. The miscalculation from her pit box likely cost her the win, and now not a day goes by that Patrick doesn't ask herself, 'What might have been?'

Last Saturday afternoon as Patrick and I hung out near her pit box after qualifying was over, she told me that she hopes to get out of pitting sequence with the rest of the field. This is what helped her win in Motegi, Japan on April 20, the first IndyCar victory of her career. When the leaders in that race had to pit for fuel late, Patrick didn't pit and was catapulted to the front.

Since that historic victory -- in which she became the first female to ever win in IndyCar -- there's been a lot of speculation in the paddock about Patrick's long-term future and whether or not NASCAR could be her next stop. The guess here is that she'll bolt to the Cup series within three years, but Patrick says she's noncommittal. "I swear, it's as if NASCAR plants someone in every press room I go to, because I get asked about NASCAR in every press conference," she says. "I'll always look at my options, and if it's in my best interest to go, I'll go. But right now all I'm thinking about is winning the Indy 500."

(Says one owner of a rival IndyCar team, "NASCAR would chew Danica up and spit her out, just like NASCAR is doing to Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr. right now. Driving those stock cars is a whole different animal than driving these Indy cars. Danica doesn't have any experience in a stock car, and I really, really think she'd struggle even to qualify over there. It would be a huge career mistake.")

One night last week I had dinner with Patrick, her parents (T.J. and Bev) and her husband, Paul Hospenthal, outside of Patrick's motorhome. Danica doesn't like to venture out into Indianapolis on most nights because of the inevitable hullabaloo that she will create, so during the month of May this is where she enjoys most of her meals.

On this night T.J. was in charge of grilling cheese-filled sausages, chicken breasts and slabs of pork. With the sun setting and the air cool, the Patrick family couldn't stop smiling as they spent two hours recalling Danica's unlikely rise: from her quitting school at 16 to move to England to work on her racing; to her losing funding from her racing sponsor because of her perceived penchant for being a party girl and lacking focus; to her landing a ride with Rahal-Letterman Racing in '04, even though she'd never shown that she could consistently win.

"Danica has had to work twice as hard for everything she's gotten, and it's not a fluke that she's here," T.J. told me, beaming with fatherly pride. "I've got a good feeling that she's going to prove that on race day."

Can Danica win? We'll find out a week from Sunday.