Being a female racer in NASCAR’s premier series is no feat to ignore. Danica Patrick holds that privilege and has been the only one to do so in the sport’s modern era. She won the 2008 Indy Japan 300 and also clinched the 2013 Daytona 500 pole – being the first female driver to get a Cup Series pole and marking her as a true inspiration in motorsports. Yet what propelled her to this success was a disciplined approach to life with a touch of simplicity.

Throughout her racing career, Danica Patrick has been known for healthy routines. Along with her mental and physical wellness, she emphasized efficiency. She had a small, close-knit team named ‘Team Danica’ during her NASCAR career. It had the concise task of keeping her content secure financially. Patrick follows the same ideal in her business, as she revealed recently.

Danica Patrick believes in minimalism

This may be a side-effect of being a stellar racer. After all, NASCAR drivers rely on short communicative notes from spotters to navigate through the tricky turns of a racetrack. Those concise notes of information are paramount. Racers can know about a crash unfolding a few yards away, or whether a competitor is edging up from behind. Danica Patrick believes that the same efficient approach can be applied elsewhere. She kicked off a wine company, Somnium, back in 2007 after purchasing a property to grow a vineyard. The venture got wings, especially after Patrick’s retirement from NASCAR in 2017, and now thrives under her ‘simplistic’ guidance.

In a recent interview by Genius Network, the former speedster candidly laid out her opinion regarding ‘wordy’ emails. Danica Patrick‘s philosophy is centered around fewer words and more work. “I’ll get a report that is like, way too many numbers, way too many line items, way too small print, and I just go, ‘No.’ Or too many words – sometimes I get an email that’s many paragraphs long, and I will just reply with, ‘Too many words.’ I need short, concise bullet points. I think really simply, really clearly, really logically, really rationally – and I need to know where we’re trying to go and what do you need to know.”

Anything can happen in a race in a matter of seconds. If the spotter does not get to the point fast, a racer may lose an important opportunity. So Danica Patrick tossed beating around the bush out the window: “Many times I just think to myself, What’s the point? Tell me what the point is. Like, can we just cut to the chase?.. It can be very abrasive for people, but it’s how I would like to be dealt with too.” Patrick focuses on cultivating a healthy mind and avoiding negativity alongside her physical health pursuits. So she also stressed candor as primarily important: “I also am very honest, and I think that’s also a little off-putting for people. But I can also accept it and would love to have it… Most people don’t know that they can deliver it or even have that awareness of it.”

Patrick duly practices what she preaches. She is a NASCAR icon who adapted well to her post-racing life.

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Most NASCAR veterans lose their touch after their stints in racing. For instance, 7-time Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson hung up his firesuit in 2020. Yet his comeback to NASCAR this year has been dismal. He could not maneuver the Next-Gen car and finished 26th or worse in 9 points-paying races across the last two seasons. But Danica Patrick has proven to be an exception in terms of life after racing.

After she left full-time racing, she understood that her transition to entrepreneurship would not be smooth. In an interview with Forbes, she talked about how she handled her wine business. It required building trust and credibility from the ground up.”You have to do it for your own business – you need to have a plan and the vision and the personnel to get things going.”

Then proactive demands were involved, as handling logistics in a business owner’s capacity was way different than being a racer. Also, maintaining an identity and purpose outside of racing is tough, as you need to cultivate hobbies. “Just because I can drive a race car, doesn’t mean I can make good wine. It sounds silly looking back to think that it would just transition over but you have to build it up.” She also employs mental strategies: “Having a lot of faith that something is going to work is also very important, and I have that.” At the same time, Patrick does not cling to anything. “I’ve realized over time that when something’s difficult and you can’t figure out why it’s not working out, don’t force.”

Not many drivers can lead a successful life outside of racing as it takes a lot of dedication as well as talking to the right people, as Patrick elaborates on. “Because I’ve had such good people on my side, I had a lot of time and bandwidth to do these things while I was still racing,” Patrick was actively involved with her life off the track while actively being on it, making her life after racing as smooth as possible. From writing a book to launching wine, Patrick kept herself busy and felt it was necessary, saying, “You need other interests outside of your sport.”

Evidently, Danica Patrick’s mantra for business success is healthy and visionary. Despite leaving racing 8 years ago, she continues to be a beacon of inspiration.