Putting Danica on pole paid off for NASCAR

It seems that putting Danica Patrick on pole for last Saturday's Nationwide race at Daytona paid off royally for both NASCAR and ESPN. ESPN's telecast of the Nationwide Series opener Saturday, which had Danica Patrick on the pole, averaged 4.43 million viewers, its best for a cable telecast of a Nationwide race. Viewership was up 37 percent from last year's 3.25 million.