Danica Patrick is retiring from car racing but her legacy will survive

Last week Danica Patrick announced she will retire as a full-time racer after ending her contract with the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

This year Patrick became the first female in NASCAR history to make 250 combined starts in the three NASCAR national series.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver logged her 189th start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on November 12th. Patrick also has 61 starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

The Stewart-Haas Racing team earlier this year announced Aric Almirola would drive its No. 10 Ford in 2018.

Patrick, who earned the Daytona 500 Coors Light Pole Award in 2013 is also a model, and advertising spokeswoman.

Patrick started in kart racing and later raced in Formula Ford in the United Kingdom before returning to the United States and moving up to IndyCars. She was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season. She holds the IRL record for most consecutive races running at the finish: as of October 2, 2011, she had completed 50 consecutive in the running (besting the record by 18). During her time in IndyCar, Patrick drove for Rahal Letterman Racing from 2005 to 2006, and Andretti Autosport from 2007 to 2011.

She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing—her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only women’s victory in an IndyCar Series race and her third place in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 is the highest finish there ever by a woman. She competed in the series from 2005 to 2011. In 2012, she competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The 35-year-old Patrick will race only in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2018 and then she will say good-bye from a sport where she grew into a superstar.