Danica Patrick doesn't care.
No, really-she doesn't care what former fellow driver and television personality Kyle Petty thinks about her career as a NASCAR driver.
Petty, who spoke on the Speed Channel's NASCAR RaceHub program, slammed Patrick, who is in the midst of her first full season in Sprint Cup racing, according to USA Today.
"[Patrick is] not a race car driver," he sneered. "Danica has been the perfect example of somebody who can qualify better than what she runs. She can go fast, but she can't race. I think she's come a long way, but she's still not a race car driver. And I don't think she's ever going to be a race car driver."
But 31-year-old Patrick, who is known as being the most successful woman in American open-wheel racing's history, remained unfazed by Petty's comments.
"I really don't care," she stated. "I don't. It's true there are plenty of people who say really bad things about me. I hear about them or I read them, or I read them on Twitter. People want me to die. At the end of the day, you just get over that kind of stuff."
Spanning 26 Sprint Cup races in her career, Patrick won a single top-10 finish-eighth place in 2012's season-opening Daytona 500, USA Today reported.
Her historical qualification for the Sprint Cup race has left the media scrambling for a quote, shining the spotlight straight onto her brunette coiffure.
Naturally, spectators like Petty have weighed in on her success.
"I just think that it's funny how he [Petty] said I can qualify but I can't race," Patrick said. "Those of you who actually watch what I do would know I can't qualify for crap, and then in the race things go much better."
Patrick then went on to say that the most important things are keeping her team and sponsors happy.
"The most important thing to me is that...we're moving in the right direction...and that when I walk out of the garage and meet a little girl who [says she] wants to grow up to be like you, you're doing something right. Those are the things that feel right."
