Danica Patrick had better show a better sense of humor Tuesday night when she co-hosts the American Country Awards than she did Friday at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards.
As the host of the NASCAR show, comic Jay Mohr got a laugh in his opening monologue when he spotted Patrick and her boyfriend, fellow race car driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and joked that she was not used to being so close to the front.
Patrick and Stenhouse were absolutely stone-faced. Twitter exploded, mostly sniping that the two should grow thicker skin.
Patrick later tried to save face, tweeting: “I have the most handsome man, the banquet was funny, my fans rock, and we both won money tonight! Life is good!”
The dark-haired speed demon starred in Miranda Lambert’s music video for “Fastest Girl in Town” last summer. But co-hosting the ACAs “is definitely different than anything I’ve ever done before,” she told me over the phone Monday. “It’s out of my comfort zone.” The show airs on Fox Tuesday night from Las Vegas, with Trace Adkins as her co-host.
Patrick then flies to Los Angeles to film a Super Bowl ad for Web-hosting giant Go Daddy. Since she started starring in the company’s ads in 2007, several of the spots — which have tended to feature women stripping down and seductively dancing, or jokes about beavers — have been banned from the television airwaves and were only viewable online.
But sorry, fanboys: Patrick said the new spots will be less about selling sex.
“There was always great brand awareness, but people would see the ads and remember the name Go Daddy and have no idea what the company does,” Patrick said. “Now [the company is] concentrating more on what they do.”
The NASCAR driver is also hoping to find time to buy some Christmas presents before heading to Mississippi to spend the holiday with Stenhouse and his family.