By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

It remains to be seen how long Danica Patrick’s fourth crew chief in her young NASCAR career lasts, but one thing is for sure nobody has seemed happier to assume the position of her crew chief than Tony Gibson. Patrick will make her first start with her new crew chief this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, and it will be her ninth Sprint Cup Series start of 2012.

Gibson is very confident in his driver’s abilities, and thinks this could be a good race for the Roscoe, IL-native.

“Yeah it’s good. The communication side of it, her hearing my voice on the radio and working with her and finding out this is one of her good tracks. I’ve done some research on that, she really gets around here pretty good. Hopefully, we won’t screw it up and we can give her something good to drive today,” said Gibson. “To get any kind of time in is crucial. Not only on a communications side, but as far as the balance of the race car we have to learn. We don’t want her to adapt to our set-ups we want to adapt to her driving style. These two races will be crucial in gaining a head start on that. So over the winter time we can make plans and do some testing and get further on down the road for us.

“She has the capability of winning races; she’s a winner so we don’t have to teach her how to win. We just have to make sure that our race team is solid and can comfort her and give her the things she needs to win in the Cup Series.”

For Patrick it has been a very rough season trying to get up to speed in the Sprint Cup Series. Through eight races started, she has a best finish of 25th, which came in Chicago. She has also finished 30th-or-worse four times, and she has two DNFs (did not finish). However to this point she has been tossed into the fire at some of NASCAR’s toughest tracks — which she hadn’t really seen before. Texas has to be a welcomed sight.

“Yeah I was trying to think of how many times. Somebody while I was giving ride and drives for Chevy yesterday in the middle of the day, convertibles with my hair are just a really bad thing at around 120 mph around here so, they were saying it seems like you have been around here a few times. I was thinking about how many and I think this will be maybe my 11th race here between IndyCar and NASCAR stuff I have done,” an enthusiastic Patrick stated.

“Always love coming to Texas, I would sort of describe it as my favorite style track. It has a lot of grip, banking, and speed and had pretty good success here over the years with whatever I have driven. I think this is a great place to start with Tony (Gibson, crew chief). I think this is a nice way to kind of get towards the end of my Cup races this year and hopefully we can have a good weekend.”

Patrick’s struggles in 2012 have not been limited to the Sprint Cup Series, she also took a step back from where she was at the end of the 2011 season in the Nationwide Series. In Las Vegas last season she finished a career-best fourth in just her 16th-career start and anticipation was high for her to turn the corner when she went full-time in the series in 2012 — that hasn’t been the case.

Gibson is optimistic because he likens himself to Patrick’s original crew chief — Tony Eury Jr.

“I just think the biggest thing is Tony (Eury Jr.) and Danica got a long really well and I’ve worked with Tony Jr. we are great friends and we worked together for several years at DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) so I think putting us together is a better fit,” said Gibson. “It’s a really good fit. It’s a good fit for my race team we are old school racers. We are the Tony Jr., Tony (Eury) Sr. style of racers and I think that fits Danica pretty good”

Danica Patrick agreed, “He hit is right on the head to be honest. I agree. It’s funny I think of that too. I think about how well I got along with Tony (Eury) Jr. and how he is definitely a little more old school. Just the personalities are just cool, laid back, get down to business, but still have fun. I think that is a great attitude to bring to the track every weekend. I feel like it gets a really good team to rally around them. It speaks volumes that the guys stayed all together to come onto the No. 10 car. I think that just shows what a great leader he is.”

Patrick has had flashes of brilliance throughout the season in the Nationwide Series and even at Bristol in the Cup Series, but just when it looks like she is on the verge of something good, something goes terribly wrong. Whether it be a shoe in the middle of the racetrack that sends her behind the wall while leading, or her just losing her temper and overstepping her boundaries, it’s been interesting if you’ve kept your eye on her No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet this season. Hopefully with an experienced wrench-turner on the pit box, who has led Ryan Newman to wins and Chase appearances, things can turn around for Danica in 2013.

And for those wondering what will happen when Tony Gibson — who always refers to his drivers as “old man” — calls Danica “old man” on the radio, here is a funny transcript from their media availability:

WHAT HAPPENS THE FIRST TIME YOU CALL HER ‘OLD MAN’?

TONY GIBSON: “(Laughs) I don’t know. I’m not really sure. If I do say that I’m sorry. It just comes out for some odd reason. I don’t know. I have no idea hopefully she will forgive me.”

DANICA PATRICK: “In what context do you use ‘Old Man’?”

TONY GIBSON: “Pretty much, I don’t know it slips out. I don’t really know why I say that. For years it’s just been what I say. I’m not sure where that came from to be honest with you.”

DANICA PATRICK: “I don’t mind.”

TONY GIBSON: “If I do say that I am sorry and I don’t mean it. I was Mark Martin’s crew chief and everybody is like ‘man that is really insulting to him’. I’m like I have no idea; I don’t realize I’m saying it to him. It was a big joke. Aric Almirola, I was the crew chief for Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and it was the same way. I don’t know. It just comes out so I’m probably going to say it a few times, but if I do I’m sorry forgive me. As long as we are successful we can call each other what we want to.”

DANICA PATRICK: “I don’t really care what people call me. Tony (Eury) Jr. would call me ‘babe’ and things like that on the radio and he would apologize. I’m like I really don’t care what you call me. I don’t care if you pronounce my name wrong as long as it starts with a ‘D’.”

TONY GIBSON: “I think I have called her ‘D’ every time I have called her and talked to her on the phone. I will try to just stick with just calling her ‘D’.”

– Toby Christie is the lead Motorsports writer for Sicknissified.com, and he can be reached via twitter or email. Tweet him @Tobalical or email him at tobalical@sicknissified.com. You can also find his work at TheFinalLap.com this weekend.