Danica's new team should put her in Victory Lane

	If she wants to win races, Danica's decision to stay in IRL is the right one. Gavin Lawrence/Getty Images
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Danica Patrick's decision to stay in the IRL instead of jumping to NASCAR is a bit surprising. It's not that she didn't have her heart set on remaining in the IndyCar series -- one look into her eyes and you could tell the Cup's heavy schedule and the inexperience of driving those big stock cars had America's best woman driver just a little skittish about the move.

Still, the way in which her father, T.J. , initially wooed the NASCAR faithful opened the sport's eyes to the marketing gold mine it would acquire if she jumped ship. Plus, the money tied to the NASCAR move would have been more than anything Danica could get as an IRL competitor. It seemed like a good deal for both sides.

But now consider the new IRL team Danica will be driving for next season. Despite its so-called struggles in 2006, Andretti Green Racing is easily the most successful IRL team in the last three seasons. Since 2004, the four- car team has 20 wins to three for Danica's current team, Rahal-Letterman.

Even more eye-opening, AGR has two championships (Tony Kanaan in 2004, Dan Wheldon in 2005) to Rahal's zero. In fact, when is the last time Rahal-Letterman has been within sniffing distance of a championship? The answer is never -- Danica's 2005 Rookie of the Year Award and Buddy Rice's 2004 Indy 500 victory are the high points of this team.

From that standpoint, it's easy to believe Danica when she says her move to AGR isn't about the money, but the possibility of winning.

Well-funded and stocked with some of the best personnel IRL money can buy, Andretti Green is a place where Danica will be given equipment to win races. Let's not discount, either, the veteran leadership Michael Andretti provides to the team. If Danica has the talent, he'll know how to get it out of her.

With a likable veteran in Kanaan and a young gun in Marco Andretti, Danica can use the friendly competition within the organization to help her reach the next level. That's critical, because as Danica prepares for her third season in the IRL, she's starting to run out of excuses. No longer a rookie, she has the experience necessary to be competitive -- and next year she'll have the equipment.

Anything less than two race wins next year will be considered a disappointment for Danica.

As for Rahal-Letterman, the team started off on a tragic note with the loss of Paul Dana, and the black cloud never lifted. Using an uncompetitive Panoz chassis for the first half of the season, the team fell behind on technology.

While Danica has recovered well, with two consecutive fourth-place finishes to her credit, it was too little and too late for her to commit to the program for 2007. Danica leaving this team is no different than a quality NASCAR driver getting frustrated with his current situation and leaving a mid-level team for Roush or Hendrick.

A jump to NASCAR would have raised Danica's profile even higher, but she knows the curiosity factor must eventually be replaced by the success factor. And the best chance to succeed was to make the switch to Andretti Green. Expectations are now raised. Next season we'll get to find out if she can deliver.

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