Cain: Danica Patrick leads a natural evolution – Nascar

(Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

WATCH: Danica talks about unwinding with yoga

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In the small Renew Yoga studio, bordered by a hat company and a bustling tavern on Daytona Beach’s famed brick-laden “Beach Street,” Danica Patrick spent an hour Wednesday sharing a yoga class with a group of reporters.

It was a beautifully sunny morning with a light breeze easing in from the neighboring Intracoastal Waterway. Along the yoga studio’s front sidewalk, the “locals” sat at tables outside a coffeehouse and small café having a morning coffee and in one case, indulging in an early glass of wine.

The yoga studio was low key and serene, as you’d expect. So was Patrick.

This was a time to re-introduce her new sponsor, Nature’s Bakery, to the small gathering of reporters, and Patrick looked fully and truly in her element.

Nature’s Bakery products – from gluten-free pomegranate fig bars to cholesterol-free and kosher double chocolate brownies – were on tables for post-yoga re-energizing.

Patrick, her hair in a ponytail, sat up front in the class and was clearly the expert among the media’s well-intentioned but mostly “good sport” participants.

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There were “Downward Facing Dog” and “Pigeon” poses, requests for arm balances and one-leg stands. We tried, but few were able to emulate the poses the way Patrick expertly did.

I’ve covered the sport for two and a half decades and it was the first time I ended a driver availability peacefully sitting cross-legged and saying, “Namaste.”

And it felt good.

That’s exactly the vibe Nature’s Bakery is hoping for in partnering with Patrick.

It’s an era away from many of the sport’s earliest and long-standing corporate sponsors – the beers, motor oils and car batteries.

It’s natural NASCAR evolution.

“I think it’s important to bring a brand that has an active and healthy lifestyle into the NASCAR family,” Nature’s Bakery founder Dave Marson said. “And with a younger generation, the education on nutrition and health and being active they are learning at a younger age. That’s the next generation of NASCAR fans for years. So we welcome the old fans and the new ones coming into NASCAR.”

RELATED: Nature’s Bakery signs on as Patrick’s sponsor

And it sure felt like a good fit here. This has been a long-time lifestyle for Patrick, who is eager to share the health benefits of staying active and eating right with NASCAR fans.

Patrick has been doing yoga regularly since her days as a teenager racing in England. And she says her boyfriend, fellow Sprint Cup driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and her team owner, Tony Stewart, have been supporters of the sport, if not devoted followers quite yet. But there is hope.

“He [Stenhouse] came into my ‘wo-man cave’ a couple months ago and did some stretching, it took about five minutes before he said, ‘OK, I’m done. I’m bored,’ Patrick said smiling. “Baby steps.”

She says her boss, the ultimate old-school racer Stewart, who is recovering from a L1 vertebra fracture in his back, has also recently given yoga a try. Although he is at home in North Carolina recovering from his recent injury and will not race in Sunday’s Daytona 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Patrick said Stewart has been very communicative.

“Honestly, I feel like he’s in good spirits,” she said. “I heard from him before the Sprint Unlimited [last Saturday night] and asked him how he’s doing.

“He’s in a great mood. I don’t know, maybe some of those endorphins.”

While she wasn’t sure if he would have joined us for Wednesday’s session, Patrick was impressed by some of her boss’s activity during the offseason.

“He had done some yoga and Pilates and that’s good for him,” she said. “He was really on a great track [before he got hurt]. I’d imagine if he has a great recovery and keeps his attitude up and stays positive with it all, it probably stems from him getting healthier before it all happened. I hope he comes back 100 percent and as positive as possible.”

The opportunity to combine two of Patrick’s passions — yoga and healthy eating — clearly put the sports star in a good place. And welcoming a new and different sponsor to the sport puts NASCAR in a good place.

After the “regular” class concluded, Patrick purposely took the time to speak with everyone and share the good vibes her sport and sponsor give her. Then, with her new sponsor chairmen looking on, she went back inside the studio for another workout.

The Nature’s Bakery health bars promise “Energy for Life’s Great Journeys” and it has definitely been that for Patrick.

“When you’re in yoga class it’s more of a Zen presence but when you’re in a race car, you just get into the zone,” Patrick explained. “It’s more of a sports thing. When you just zone out, it’s almost like ‘out of body,’ It’s all fluid and easy. That happens in a race car a lot. The more you can make it happen, the better. The more you are able to focus, to breath right and to tune things out is part of the practice.

“We’ve always got so much going on, and we’re pulled in so many directions.

“The more clear your mind is, the better things are around you.”

They were good on Wednesday, for sure.

Namaste.