I am not a Danica fan, but I also hold nothing against her. I think the people bashing her need to consider the amount of pressure she is under by the media microscope. Every move she makes and every word she speaks is magnified and scrutinized more than any other NASCAR driver (except Dale Jr.). I think she has handles herself very well under these conditions. For example, compare her actions/reactions to those of the Busch brothers when dealing the media. Then she gets criticized for not finishing well, but compare her finishes to these other Indy drivers that tried the crossover to NASCAR. (I had some time to kill, results found on racing-reference.info). Did these guys get bashed like she does for their performance.

Danica Patrick, Cup - 10 races, avg. finish 28.3, Nationwide - 58 races, avg. finish 20.6
J.P. Montoya, Cup - 219 races, avg. finish 19.9, Nationwide - 23 races, avg. finish 21.0
Patrick Carpantier, Cup - 40 races, 30.4 avg. finish, Nationwide - 16 races, avg. finish 20.4
Dario Franchitti, Cup - 10 races, avg. finish 34.3, Nationwide - 18 races, avg. finish 20.6
Scott Pruett, Cup - 40 races, avg. finish 27.5, Nationwide - 11 races, avg. finish 15.5
Scott Speed, Cup - 106 races, avg. finish 30.2, Nationwide - 29 races, avg. finish 27.9
Paul Tracy, Cup - none, Nationwide - 6 races, avg. finish 33.7

As far as winning the pole, she herself acknowledged that it is "90 percent car, 10 percent driver" when it comes to Daytona qualifying. She is not the one making a huge spectacle of it, it's the media. I can't blame her for their actions.
Daytona 500 polesitter facts: Average finish of polesitter in the last 25 yrs is 15th. Last person to win from pole was Dale Jarrett in 2000, and it has been since 2001 since the polesitter has finished in the top 5. Odds of Danica finishing well are not in her favor.