Whatever Happened To Former NASCAR Star Danica Patrick?

Danica Patrick's NASCAR career ended in 2018, but she's still found ways to keep herself in the news. Although Patrick, who also famously dated Aaron Rodgers, is one of the most successful female race car drivers in history, she's always been a bit of a divisive personality (especially when she lost a race), and she's continued that streak during her post-racing years. Since retiring, Patrick's taken a hard right turn into Trump land, becoming one of his most vocal and outspoken supporters in recent years. And it seems that the late Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and Trump supporter who was killed in September 2025, inspired her to become more publicly political.

Taking to Instagram in September 2025, Patrick posted a lengthy caption alongside a slideshow of photos of herself and the late right-winger having conversations. Per Patrick's caption, Kirk "was a great American, husband, father, leader, man of faith, business man, boss, speaker, and inspiration to millions." She continued, "His mission to bring conservative values into high schools and colleges helped make being a republican cool again in the youth. He was able to take a rally and turn it into a high energy fun party! He was able to take his vision and passion and turn it into reality." Further down her post, she added, "It's in times like these that we have to look at humanity and ask why these things happen and then the most important question.....what do we do next."

In Patrick's case, she has continued to use her platform to support Trump and criticize his detractors.

Danica Patrick is one of the many conservatives who supported ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" following his comments, which pointed the finger at a Trump supporter during a monologue about Charlie Kirk's killer. He said, "The MAGA Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it" (via The Spun). "In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving." Kimmel's comments inspired outrage from Donald Trump and his followers, who campaigned for his show to be pulled from the air. And though his hiatus lasted only a week, their campaign was successful for a time. Patrick, taking to her Instagram stories, praised ABC's decision to shut Kimmel down. "Human decency is coming back," she said. "Thank God."

Kimmel's temporary suspension isn't the only high-profile media event Patrick has commented on in recent years. The former race car driver has also been quite outspoken about her disapproval of Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, headlining 2026's Super Bowl, despite his immense and widespread popularity, especially in the United States. "Oh fun. No songs in English should not be allowed at one of America's highest rated television events of the year... not just for sports," posted Patrick alongside a rolling eye emoji to X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after news of his performance was announced.