Danica's win does not deserve an asterisk

I've heard some people commenting on Danica Patrick's recent IRL win, claiming it was, "only won on fuel mileage," so it basically doesn't count.

Uh...what?

Wasn't the Daytona 500 won on gas mileage/fuel strategy this year? I didn't hear anyone taking anything away from Ryan Newman after that one. In fact, he was applauded by many for making a gutsy call and then pulling it off. I realize that IRL isn't NASCAR, and NASCAR isn't Formula 1, etc. But really, it boils down to this - it's a race to X amount of miles, first to finish within the rules wins. She did that. To say that she "only won" on mileage is to say that knuckleball pitchers "only won" because they throw a pitch slower and weirder than others. But it's legal. And it works - IF the pitches are better than the batters they're facing. And Danica was better than the other racers/teams that day. I don't get why people are trying to take anything away from her and this win (actually, I do get it, and they're dumb). It's not like she took anything away from them...oh, except for the trophy that she earned by beating everyone else in the field that day.

Is she a better racer than the rest of the field? No, I don't think so. That's what the season points championships help to point out. Does driver weight have something to do with gas mileage and therefore puts her at an advantage, everything else being equal? Possibly...I'm not knowledgable enough of a race fan to know. But she and her team won that day and replaced the monkey with some hardware. For those that don't like it, they should go beat her in a race. That's why they play the game, folks!